Goblin Valley State Park

Smurf Goblins

Animated clay creatures populating an isolated valley near Green River, Utah pop up organically from the smooth valley floor like red goblins. Sienna-hued and bulbous, these odd figures look earthy and familiar; strangely comforting: a recurring dream inhabiting an alternate reality coexisting with ours, beguiling us to behold their surreal condition.

Some goblins stand alone, others cluster in cliquish gatherings as if conducting meetings; yet others seem to be anxiously waiting for you as if they've been expecting you for years in a state of suspended animation.

Goblin Assembly

Groups emerging from the soil, yet integral to it, seem to be holding congress, a goblin assembly discussing internal affairs.
There may be a tribal meeting.  Or large family reunions.  Each gathering representing sub-species of goblin: ethnic groups, or genetically engineered castes.

Duck-Like Goblins

Some are duck-like.  Some are Smurf-like.
Some are hooded monks chanting their morning prayers, eternally.

Hooded Monks

The entire place is a village of unworldly beings frozen in time.  Rather like an extremely slow scene with people buzzing in and out at lightning speeds: bees on a bug's life cycle and goblins dancing to their own imperceptible rhythm.

Dancing Goblins

Some goblins are distinctly upright, striking individualistic poses captured on a slow moving walk, perhaps smiling.

Solitary Goblin

The solitary goblin is the remarkable one representing his faction by sheer force of character, or unique characteristic.

Popeye Goblin

There's Popeye looking ever the weathered sailor with sunken mouth and bony cheeks.

Toothless Hag Goblin

There's the toothless old hag in extreme stage of decay, with gaunt face grinning at the sky, forever.

Big Bird Goblin

There's Big Bird Goblin walking alone.

Goblin Gone Blind

There's the bony indescribable one: a goblin gone blind.

On one level goblins could be proto-humans in various stages of development;  on another, they might be post-humans in different phases of arrested development.  Perhaps they are reincarnations of partial personalities: alter egos eternally working out issues.

Kissing Goblins

 Unresolved loves forever kissing.

Rug-Rat Baby Goblins

Or unborn souls made manifest by clay; giant heads stuck in the mud like rug-rat babies personalities.

In any case, there's a supernatural quality to this place.  Goblins, ghouls, or apparitions are lingering into modern times.  The spirit of Halloween is alive and naturally well at Goblin park reminding us, possibly, of our spectral ancestry.

Spectral Goblins

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