theological burden in a raindrop

The electric monk, steadfast in his belief that gravity should work in reverse, looked up puzzledly at the rain. He was, afterall, designed to relieve humans of the burden of belief in nonsense, so why should this current belief make for such inconvenient dampness? And why should he have to carry an umbrella when clearly raindrops should fall up? The fact that his feet were firmly planted on the ground was irrelevant evidence as far as he was concerned. And so long as he held onto his belief, humankind was free to work on the more important problems of science.

Dec 26th in the US of Eh

Do you feel ripped off? No Boxing day! As a kid, Boxing day meant visitors and fresh crab. As in really fresh. As in bought on the dock and carried home in a plastic bag and killed on the counter top before being dropped in the pot of boiling water. I never ate it. I could never get over the smell, or the image of its legs waving in the air in its struggle against the kitchen knife right before - CHOP. And there it is, my temporary pet on the dinner table paired with a chardonnay and tiny forks.

tasseography

I took my last swig of the bitter brew and the tea leaves slid to the bottom of the cup on a watery film. Leaning back in my chair, the taste of tannins was quickly replaced with the essence of mothballs and herbs that filed the stagnant air. I was chilled and impatient, sitting in a hard plastic chair, trying to make sense of the woman’s schizophrenic ramblings and erratic hand talking. Her visions and reality blurred into a life tale of agoraphobia and mysticism. Finally, she bent and peered into my cup, and pulled back white-faced in wide-eyed horror.

the potter

By any other measure, she would have been labeled insane, but under the guise of art, she was called brilliant. She spent her days in an east side studio hunched over a wheel, spitting into pots and pulling them into malformed, oversized volumes, in the shapes of body parts. Her works were named and labeled for their apparent intended parts too: large egg shaped ones labeled "head", smaller flatted side-opened ones labeled "foot", a slightly triangular one labeled "shoulder". The finished pots were spread around the studios like a disorganized Frankenstein's lab. Her nights she wandered east side neighbourhoods, scavenging.

animal erotica

He took the back route to the meeting place; best not to draw attention to his comings and goings. She was rarely seen with male company, and he was not much interested in competition. He moved quickly and quietly to meet her, but paused when she was in sight. Her back was to him. Even from a distance her allure was dangerously strong. He admired her long delicate limbs and the precise way she handled herself. He rushed forward and embraced her from behind, catching the glint in her eight eyes as she turned around and bit his head off.

darien

The scream of the fuselage tearing filled his head and heavy jungle air flooded into the cockpit. Both choppers crashed in unison through lianas, ficus and cecropia. The metallic invasion temporarily silenced the forest and for a moment all he could hear was his own breath.
I can hear my own breath.
His awareness of his positioning in the tangle of steel and glass and plastic was slow to come. And slowly he was aware of the soft rustle of leaf cutter ants in a line, and the scratching of an antbird, and the underfoot crunch of the approaching guerrillas.