For Dwale
Beneath that evening's breeze the sickly sweet And brazen scent of countless flow'rs Awoke inside of you a darkened sleep Of dreams dug deeper than the soil. Oh, we are waking minds who missed that scent! ...
Jump
Some folks, they're just built to jump. Sim, you know, he was quick to jump at any opportunity, 'cause when Sim sees an opening, there was just no other possible steps for him to take. That's how Sim works. Sim jumps, can't help but. So Sim jumped...
Penguins
Too many suits move in too many lines. They circle banquet tables, hawk-eyed, hunting crudites, canapés, bruscheta. Fingers ferry food -- fish, perhaps -- finding slack-jawed mouths already open, squawking at wayward children or bemoaning...
Unseeing
On the morning of every day, when days are warm and there is no rain, on days when Lyut knows when it is day and when it is night, he will gather his ingredients onto a small board and sit at the entrance to his cave and make his incense for three days...
What Defines Us
Darren, Haven't heard from you in a while. Do you think I could come up and visit for xmas? Been a while since I've seen the little monsters. Let me know before prices go up. How are you? How is Leila? LYF Mom * * * Mom, I'm sorry I haven't...
Every Angel is Terrifying
I take the bus to the edge of Sawtooth, basically as close as I can get to the highway on local transit. Beyond here it's all industrial. All warehouses and junkyards and hulking, silent buildings painted gray or beige, or not painted at all. Machine...
The Hand of God
The day began with the botanist giving the physicist a hand in setting up countless contraptions around the rim of the clearing, describing an invisible net of arcane geometries held there five feet above the ground. She lugged the total station while...
Gigs
_Well, shit._ Winter trudged heavily through the piles of dead leaves lining the gutter, the lynx's broad paws crunching through them. There was a sidewalk, but this wasn't a mood for sidewalks. This wasn't a mood for keeping clean, staying out of the...
Pale She
Her eye turns inward, vision dims and movement stills as winter claims her Thoughts like leaves fall slow, hesitate, drift, rustle, sigh. Frost-rimed remnants rot. Some paler she asks: do you see the sky through me? Do I frame its...
Disappearance
"This is going to sting." I nod. "No, this is going to sting a lot." That warrants a dry swallow and a second nod, more nervous this time. The first thing they'd done at the mod parlor was shave my fur. A smooth line back from my muzzle toward my...
Unimportant Verse 18
Every day, I learn to say "I love you" in a whole new way. And every day, I fall short of being understood.
Unimportant Verse 17
Cover me, crush me, compress me. Squeeze me down until I fit in your pocket. Let me jangle among your keys, or slip between bills in your wallet. Forget me, let me fray, let me fall apart. And, some day, pull me free, dust me off, flatten...