new start

the dust has settled
earth sets out on a new path
we are not included

the earth, inventing new life in its random way while whiling away the days, years, eras, and eons, continents drifting, occasionally starts over from scratch, following, say, the arrival of that meteor the size of a city, or a plant/animal imbalance leading to an excess of oxygen or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. following, that is, a major extinction event.

fred realized that such a new start was in the offing. a sort of impending adventure. who could guess, who could predict, what new life forms would emerge? that’s the thing about events termed “emergent”: they’re unpredictable.

however, fred did understand that there was an element of the adventure that was perfectly predictable. neither he nor anyone else was going to be around to see it.

for Tale Weaver

the round gift

PHOTO PROMPT © Todd Foltz

i grew up in rural utah near the goosenecks of the san juan, ninety years ago. my family was self-sufficient except for trips to the reservation general store.

my most anticipated present on christmas morning every year was the orange i would find in my stocking. so delicious. but one year the orange was larger than usual, and yellow.

mom explained it was a grapefruit. she cut it in half and sprinkled powdered sugar on it. i carved all the little segments free with a paring knife and ate them with a spoon.

sister to the orange, just as magical.

for Friday Fictioneers

poem

we can only resolve
the climate crisis
by treating it like
a pandemic
but shutting down
so much
will never happen
can never happen
not by us anyway
nature may be another matter

for Puttinng My Feet in the Dirt