Skip to main content

Tethers, strings, and leashes: letting go

Taste: overly sweet tartness, citrus
Touch: slimy, a sisal sponge soaked in stale water and lye; dripping juice on chin, cheek and fingers
Smell: a hint of patchouli in the wood-burning smoke-tinged air as if the whole town were trying to disguise its love for pot
Sight: the Gothic implications of a rusting wrought-iron fence; if the manikins are so chic dressed in torn shopping bags, why must I be enticed to buy the expensive clothing inside the boutique?
Sound: the rhythmic printer's raspy hum, hum, hum
Extra: the hot air balloons float down the sides of the canyon painted with the claws and faces of cats leering like the demons in Japanese fairy tales; running ahead of the men in white holding their strings looking up at a scene like Burning Man, where everything at eye-level is coated in a matte of white alkaline dust but the sky remains strikingly blue and the colors in it are vivid, I race ahead of the balloons so that I can hear the sound a magnificent swoosh, a flock or birds, a vibration that makes me lift my arms up in exaltation; the women are rolling down the steep, terraced hill to be safe, so as not to fall, but now they have drunk so much they are in danger of breaking their necks, which bend over much and I have stayed too long at the party without him and now I cannot find him anywhere; I am stopped by the man who releases all the tension between my shoulder blades with a single touch, but then it is a ruse, he wants payment of 20$ or maybe $10 I cannot read the sign exactly, and then he is busy with another woman who seems to be a better customer, and then I have let go of the leash and I cannot find Sunny anywhere which is always a bad sign and I cam yelling for her, "Taffy! Taffy!" which is not her name but the name of my childhood pet

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Springy story review: "State Change" by Ken Liu

Why it springs to mind:  You'll never look at an ice cube the same way again. Where read: In the 2014 Hugo award-winning Lightspeed Magazine , August. Length: 5,194 words Summary: A woman has an ice cube for a soul. Memorable: How the story invites us to think about the shape of our soul, how it (or our perception of it) influences us and how it changes. What ordinary every day object would your soul be? A silver spoon, a beech stick? A great party conversation starter, this. Quote:  “All life is an experiment." Notable:  The protagonist Rina is an avid reader (always a good choice). Pairs well with: T.S. Elliot, Edna St. Vincent Millay Origin:  The story was written in 24 hours based on a writing prompt. (See Author Spotlight: Ken Liu ) About the author: Ken Liu’s debut novel, The Grace of Kings , the first in a fantasy series The Dandelion Dynasty, is due out from Saga Press ( a new Simon & Schuster imprint ) in 2015.

What is Solarpunk? Good question, great answers from our community

What is solarpunk? My fellow Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers authors Commando Jugendstil and Tales from The EV Studio put together this video for the Turin International Book Fair . It features editors and authors from the solarpunk community sharing their thoughts. Together we're imagining optimistic futures based on renewable energy. My soundbite was: "Solarpunk futures are — green spaces with clean water that are pedestrian, collective, feminist, creative communities. And they include non-human animals. " Mary "solarpunk" Shelley cat did a great job (at 6:15) helping from her rather ridiculous cat tree which she absolutely loves. And what better time to wear this solar-colored "Veganism is Feminism" tee from The Herbivore Clothing Company . Seriously. I'm holding a stack of solarpunk books: Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers  edited by Sarena Ulibarri which includes my story "Watch Out, Red Crusher!".  Wings of R...

Springy story review: "Torching the Dusties" by Margaret Atwood

Why it springs to mind: Relevant thoughts about how we view aging and how we treat the aged in our society. In this story, young people protest the existence of old people in an assisted living facility for taking up resources. Not far from the callous viewpoint of people sometimes expressed in the national news. Where read: The last story in  Stone Mattress: Nine Tales   (2014) a collection by Margaret Atwood Summary: Wilma and her boyfriend Tobias escape an assisted living facility, Ambrosia Manor, that has come under attack by protestors carrying signs that say "Time to Go" and "Our Turn" who think the old people are just taking up space and resources. Memorable: the delightful use of Charles Bonnet Syndrome as a character trait for Wilma Quotes:  "We have to be kind to one another in here, she tells herself. We're all we have left."   "According to Tobias, women hang around longer because they're less capable of indignation and...