Can you hear me?
Adjust your shells,
I’ll wait.
We used to have extensions related to
a form of com’utics called sensation.
Look and see where sound sensors—ears—
were located, one on each side of the head.
We had another mid-face—nose—which
paired with ears to bring the outside in
to us. You can
imagine how such useless
appendages caught on and damaged the
ecosystem we move through by wasting
our time on empathy for our competitors.
Turn in place with gratitude! Notice how
the fog ash of your wastes lifts, applauds
and readies moist nourishment for you!
Open your pores and you will receive!
That is the joy of our new world where
no waste exists but only food, no distance
but only here, no rhyme but what a shell
can read. Can you
imagine open vistas of
uncertainty and multiple species proclaiming
their own beauty? Overloading killed many.
But we survive to tell the stories, and story
reveals the folly of the old. It hurt to
remove my ears, but what a relief to my
existential suffering, and look—what
designs they gave me with my healing!
I am a double buttercup!
Imagine how
the flies love that! How
sad that no one
has the operation and the tattoo anymore!
This little touch of color is like a precious
stone—I’ll tell you that story next time.
Time for me to refresh.
I will dig my toes
deep into the muck while you float and bob.
Ah, children, such energy.
Posted for "Kerry's Wednesday Challenge ~ Worldbuilding" at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads. This time dystopia. Next time utopia. I promise.
Posted for "Kerry's Wednesday Challenge ~ Worldbuilding" at Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads. This time dystopia. Next time utopia. I promise.
Absolutely amazing. You give evolution a flavorful new twist, perhaps more palatable and digestible than most!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and creative story, like the thought of the nose and ears to bring the outside in. Very good story.
ReplyDeleteLove this piece of imagination! This has been so much fun to see where everyone has gone with worldbuilding!
ReplyDeleteI love what you've done...I'm absorbed in this creature...
ReplyDeleteI love this!!
"no rhyme but what a shell
can read."
Warm smiles to you, Susan!
Wow, Susan. Those useless appendages, damaging the ecosystem...we'll be fortunate to become buttercups and not cockroaches. I cry when I think of the youngsters in my family, growing up in a world we've worked so hard to destroy. A new baby grandnephew, born in October...what will he know if he reaches my age?
ReplyDeleteK
No waste... but even for such a fantastic world, I would rather evolve than remove appendages (I don't like pain :) This highly imaginative... I came up with nothing worthy of posting.
ReplyDeleteOverloading has killed many. I feel in danger of it. Interesting poem. k.
ReplyDeletehaha i enjoyed your voice in this...a bit different and fun...and a point as well...i am a double buttercup....i grinned....a world of no waste, what a world that would be eh? do tell that story next time...smiles.
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent, Susan. You had me enthralled from the first lines and I wanted to read on to see what this alternative world offered.
ReplyDeleteI was particularly captured by the syntax of this line:
no rhyme but what a shell
can read.
I so enjoyed the whole experience.
I'm dreaming of what I might be in your make believe world ..... wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteGreat Susan. I always know it will be when I visit your page...I love this evolutionary tale....it sounds delightful to become a double buttercup. I hope it isn't too late for our world the way we have done it so much harm.
ReplyDeleteyay! love it. i'm in the middle of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and this feels like that kind of dystopian world to me. (that's a big compliment.)
ReplyDeleteSusan this is a wonderful blog and I really enjoyed this poem. The imagery was beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLove the double buttercup stories and voice of gratitude here Susan ~
ReplyDeleteNain Rouge is open again for submission for the next issue ~ Smiles ~
This is just so clever! "It hurt to remove my ears but what a relief to my existential suffering". (Is it that easy? tell me more, hee hee) I always admire what you write - this one was a TRIP! Loved it.
ReplyDeleteWow, Susan...your world is mind altering...YOU are a buttercup!
ReplyDeleteI love this and your voice! Amazing~ <3
How creative!
ReplyDeleteI think I'll dig into the muck with you :-)
ReplyDelete