I have my own personal light show going on inside of my head sometimes; actually, to be honest it’s going on for most of the time.
I didn’t really notice them to begin with, these sudden pin-prick flashes of light, what with all the other blurring, crackled and fragmented images I had to decipher. Over time though they became unfailingly familiar, part of my new normal, often occurring when I concentrated really hard on something.
There; that was one.
And another…
Sunlight was a common stimulus too; summertime provided me with a private invite-only firework show on numerous occasions. Barking at the kids or passing the time with a neighbour, none of you had any idea of the miniscule explosions, the shooting and spitting sparks that were dancing intermittently between us.
Only the neurologists furrowed their collective brows, asking if this phenomenon occurred more in one eye than the other; but even they didn’t really explain why these sparkly pinpricks punctuate my world.
Phosphenes; an unusual optical occurrence, also sometimes know as ‘prisoner’s cinema’. An apt description that inadvertently elbows the coiled serpent that still lurks within the depths of my gut; I ponder more quietly, not wanting to fully wake it up.
Even though this really is happening to me, I still can’t help but be fascinated by yet another weird visual manifestation…
Phosphenes – my own personal light-show.
Fuzzz…There we go again…