Leaf

A "random word" text from my Internet-based writing group. In this case, the prompt was "leaf". Random-word texts are supposed to be written with minimal reflection and editing. "What does this word suggest to you?" They can become the seeds for later stories. 



I grip the leaf with all my limbs, gnaw through the stem, and fall. Wind catches me at once, spins me at random, tosses me above the trees and whirls me out over the river. The updraft fails, and I drift downward, rocking in my cradle of air. We skim above the surface of the water, then settle and touch. The current grips the leaf, and once again I whirl, careening past rocks where the water folds and purls in smooth transparent ridges. Then onward, into the center of a vast slow eddy. The water hangs brown and deep beneath us, sliding over speckled stones the color of sparrows’ eggs.

A carp surfaces and nudges the leaf, then turns and sinks, his vast reticulate side merging with the palmate fluke of his tail. The leaf is sinking. Already its upper concave surface is pooled with water where minute, transparent life-motes dance, twinkling with cilia.

I consider joining them. But such a life is not within my power. I am a creature of the wind, the clouds, and the tossing trees. I balance on the edges of the submerging leaf and spin out my gossamer wings. The carp returns, a massive head and eye. My wings spread wide, grasping air. The great mouth opens on the arched cave of tongue and gills. I catch the wind before the pale lips close around the leaf, and pull it under.

Announcement (poem)

I heard the first line of the poem on the Metro PA system, and it got me thinking. Since the recent tunnel-fire (which hospitalized over 80 people, and killed one,) we have all been a bit nervous.



The train ahead of us is experiencing a medical emergency.
An individual has fallen on the tracks,
and the train refuses to go on.

Support personnel are arriving on the scene
in various and sundry vehicles -
five in one, sixteen in another,
like clown cars in the circus.
Please stay calm.
Be sure to report any suspicious packages
or unseemly behavior.
Emergency instructions can be found
on the plasma TV screens located around the platform,
as well as placards at the exits of each car.
Please remain seated, unless otherwise instructed.
Then, please obey all instructions.

Medical personnel have currently arrived.
They have assisted the fallen individual,
and are now attempting to comfort the distressed train.
A licensed vehicular therapist
asks whether the individual reminded it
of its father, its mother, its early childhood.
The train takes the offered kleenex
and wipes oil-tears from its headlights.

The therapist asks the train
whether it considers itself a danger to itself or others,
and offers to get it off the line.
Uniformed support personnel are edging closer,
holding hypodermic syringes and crow-bars.

We are pleased to inform you that
the disabled train is being moved,
gently and with consideration,
to a safe place where it can receive professional assistance.

The emergency support team is dispersing,
having removed all suspicious packages
and questioned all persons of interest.
They have piled into their vehicles and sped away.

This train will continue momentarily,
as soon as we have received permission.
Thank you for your patience.
We apologize for any inconvenience.