In misting steps I gather
In quiet there is sown
In mounting quakes I wither
And evil lies below
Category: Stories
Upended Voices
Really all I’d like to do right now is laugh.
Just laugh and laugh until I can’t remember what I was sad about anymore.
Sometimes I think if I laughed enough the whole sky could come down and I’d jump around in puddles of cloud, and the blue would be like an ocean that never boils any fish or bleaches any coral.
Once it was nighttime I’d be able to collect stars like little lightning bugs and put them in a jar, and I could swim through the inky universe and pretend I was just another galaxy floating by.
I would especially love to hang out with the moon, since she doesn’t give sunburns and always seems nice.
Anyway.
I hope it rains tomorrow.
Random prose?
Long Titles
I am Gandalf,
Dear Bilbo Baggins of Bag-End of the green hills of the Shire at the end of the long lane as marked by the short stubby trees along the way, which often flower in the Spring, as long as the winter wasn’t too harsh, and the winds are breezy enough, since they carry pollen in order to bloom the trees that line the walkway leading to your door,
What’s up?
— Gandalf
P.S. I think you’d make a fantastic burglar
Wrote this as a means to keep myself awake in history class, and it made me laugh. Imagine the title he’ll have after his adventure!
Ripples in Time
Echoes fade in and out of consciousness, preserved only by what we cannot see. Beyond the cat-eyed rulers of intricate tombs, before the brick-makers learned to tame the rivers in that blazing heat.
You can see it there, in the crook of an arm, the gentle tilt of a neck. We’ve tamed it now, yes, but are we not savages to our children and theirs?
Whispers reverberate now, bouncing off the interior of our minds like a lilting tune sung by a sweet sparrow.
Scenes come into focus, here. A mother hums, a child laughs, a father sighs returning home at last. Burdened by nothing, the ancients receive a blessing envied by this modernity: an untouched world.
Grasses sing in the breeze, secrets passed along by orange blossoms to the willow trees. Rivers gurgle and boil, racing each other down hills and through ravines.
Mysteries swirl in the heavens, stars too bright and numerous to number, they sit and wonder, telling stories of all they see. Myths from a mythical existence, how can we question all that is within them?
Dusty fingerprints scatter through lifetimes, gently guiding, may we never lose the stars in our eyes.
[Jan. 17, 2018]
I really like finding old things, because it feels like someone else wrote them and I have to figure out my own thoughts again. This was due to a prompt/drabble that had something to do with Time and how it flows through people.
The Cephalolad
There once was a cuttlefish named Inky, who, waiting to hatch, was very excited to explore the ocean with his brothers and sisters. Inky waited patiently in the comforting grotto, squinting through the thin film of his tiny universe as each egg around him gave a little pop! and out came a new baby cuttlefish, no bigger than your thumb. (note for Juba: kids’ fingers, even thumbs, are very small. So Inky is a lot smaller than your thumb, but just the right size and source of wonder for anyone of a more compact stature.)
Inky counted on his tentacles to pass the time, one, two, three, four, five, six, until suddenly… pop! Inky was shooting away toward his siblings. When he reached them, he was a little tired, so Inky watched as his brothers and sisters darted around, changing color and figuring out how to blend in with the things around them, which is how the cuttlefish do. Inky drifted towards one of his sisters, who was trying to match the color of some deep green seaweed she had found.
“I wanna try that!” Inky said, drifting closer. He squinted at the seaweed and then closed his eyes, concentrating as hard as he could, and when he opened them…nothing. Inky was the same grey color as before! But how could this be? He looked at the cuttlefish around him, not one the same shade of blue, orange, green, or purple. It seemed so easy for them! “Maybe you weren’t trying hard enough”, his sister shrugged her tentacles, which were a lovely shade of green. Inky frowned, starting to get a little worried.
He moved over to to his big brother, who was in the middle of blending in with a purple sea anemone. Inky was determined to get it right this time. He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could, picturing the sharp spines and dark hues in front of him. When he opened them again, his brother was laughing, “how many spines do you think an anemone has, squid-for-brains? That’s like, ten too many!” He said, sporting a very purple and very correctly-numbered-amount of spikes on his back.
Inky turned an immediate shade of pink and scooted away, doing his best to smooth the bristles.
After unsuccessfully blending in with a coral reef, (turning what appeared to be checkerboard, rather than orange), and after interrupting (quite by accident) the neighbor mantis shrimp, who he mistook to be a colorful brother, Inky floated sadly to where his parents were floating watchfully nearby. He stared after his older siblings, all flitting about and changing every color imaginable in the blink of an eye.
“What’s wrong Inky? Why aren’t you playing with your brothers and sisters?” His mom drifted down to him. Inky told his parents how he couldn’t seem to blend in with anything. His dad laughed, which Inky did not think was very nice of him. “I think I might have an idea of what’s going on,” His dad held up two tentacles, “how many are there, Inky?”
Inky squinted for a long time before answering, “there are…three? No, four! I think…” He replied, not quite sure.
Inky’s parents gave each other a knowing look, and disappeared briefly into the grotto behind them. When they returned, his mom was carrying a pair of glasses! Inky hesitated, “what if everyone else thinks they’re silly?” He wondered.
“I promise they won’t! And even if they do, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you need in order to succeed!” Inky’s mom said, chuckling at her own little joke, and placed the glasses over Inky’s eyes.
It was like taking a deep breath after a particularly nice nap. Everything was so bright and clear! Inky immediately tried blending in with the sand below him, turning a delightful sandy-tan. “It works!” He laughed, swimming off to show his siblings.
As soon as Inky jetted into the group, three of his siblings rushed over to see what their brother had on his face. Inky excitedly showed them how easily he could change now. Orange, green, red, purple, blue, polka-dot; he was a kaleidoscope of colors! His siblings ooed and awed, asking Inky if he could show them how to change colors so fast. One of his brothers asked if he could have glasses, too!
And so with time, Inky became well-known across the surrounding reefs, with astounding colors brighter than anyone else on the seabed.
Pressurized Sentiment
Sometimes being an adult feels like an elongated version of deciding what to play when you’re a kid
Run around until dusk and your only concerns are when lunch or dinner is.
I liked that because it was a lot simpler
You didn’t have a lot of options so you just sort of experienced whatever was in your path
I remember waking up without a plan and just being excited to get out and “explore” even though I could easily run around our neighborhood with my eyes shut,
But I always found something new. A family of rabbits, a conversation with a mockingbird, stashing a makeshift time capsule in the safe crook of a tree.
I really don’t like how far away that feels, sometimes. I get caught up in this day-to-day
Worrying over every word I say
Am I creative or am I just fueled by consumption of media
Am I smart or do I just parrot words that I hear
What part of me is me and what parts are a conglomerate of everything else?
And do I live for myself?
Hard to tell.
I have yet to sort it all out.
A Conversation
I feel stuck here, sometimes.
“Where?”
Earth? I guess?
“Couldn’t you just leave?”
I mean, sure, but what if I get to space and I get fat from carbon dioxide inflating my body or something
“I don’t think that’s how that works.”
You don’t know everything. Plus I might end up missing home probably.
“Have you ever left?”
Not really.
“Then how would you know?”
That sounds like a trick question. I did say I wasn’t totally sure.
“Well, if you want to leave, but you don’t want to go to space, maybe you could go on a vacation.”
Doesn’t that cost money?
“Why would I know that.”
You’re supposed to be super smart!
“Like you said, I don’t know everything, and I choose particularly not to know about money.”
Oh.
“So what are you going to do?”
I don’t know. Probably just stare at the sky for a couple more hours instead of everything else.
“I see.”
You can sit with me if you want
“Sounds like an acceptable plan.”
Woolgathering 