“She’s the only one the cat will even come close to.” The Rabbi told my mother in his gentle and slightly raspy voice that exuded wisdom. We were walking down the hallway of the synagogue. His long, white robes glistened with gold filigree. My mother stood in stark contrast, dressed all in black. She wore a tank top, against the rule that shoulders must not show in the holy house, which even reform jews were supposed to follow. This wasn’t a service, though, she would say.
Category: Poetry+Fiction
Wants.
I want.
Planet X7
Milly entered the library with one thing on her mind. Where was she being commissioned next? It would take a six mecra-long flight to get anywhere worth studying. She had coordinates that looked much closer. As she walked down the echoing, cold, marble steps, she hoped it was somewhere she could study the lifestyle habits of the Gannibions. But she didn’t know of any Gannibion outpost this close to galactic center. Long ago, the Gannibions had left Earth for safe havens where they could practice mushroom farming in peace, away from the noises and pollution of the city planets.
A Weeping Leaf
From her life, a story grows. The roots are in every choice she’s ever made. The branches are in the things she said. The leaves are her words, each one delivered slowly and with care. She came into my life and went I know not where. When I met this woman, she asked me what…
One Hemlock Life
The hemlocks are chasing me down the street. I turn the corner, climb the wall, and hide under the archway between two buildings, in the shadows. Or, should I say, the other hemlocks. I haven’t been one for very long, but I feel both invigorated and drained. I feel a fire flowing in my veins that I’ve never felt before. I feel as if I’m sulking through the world. It alternates, and it doesn’t matter what time of day it is or what’s going on, it just shifts. Perhaps my body is getting used to this…
A Day At The Market
When the wind whistles through the trees, it soothes me. My favorite color is the green light of the sun shining through leaves. When I was a child, I could spend hours climbing them, playing amongst the plants. As an adult, a butterfly can still distract me for minutes unending. They flitter and flutter and convince me there is beauty in the world. A plant on my antique white desk moves with the sunlight. It moves so swiftly, for a plant, that I see it in a new position every time I look at it. Its green and purple leaves leave nothing to be desired.
Liquid Fire
The wilderness gave me my name, How could you think I would be tame? Sent me out, disgraced or worse: Considered ugly by those with purse. From Babylon, Straits and Open Seas, We carried the torch far from these. We refused to play that alpha game, And in the end, there’s none to blame. I…
U.T.O.P.I.A.
A flood. The first instant was chaos.The news, received with no less than a few hours to react, was their last step in a contingency plan, allowing ours to even begin….