In spring we swell full with waters from upstream, brought down from broken mountains under the power of the nearer sun. Our pale ice-blanket weakens, then cracks, then splits into floes, then reintegrates into watery darkness. Warmed, we wake from sleep. At sunset our rocks trade the hooting calls of loons, drawn by the clarity […]
The fair market price of a single, undyed candlestick was one dollar. Not that anyone had dollars anymore. So Agnes Renfrew accepted all sorts of odds and ends and bits and bobs in exchange for the treasured beeswax tapers.Each Wednesday, without fail, Mrs. Singleton would knock on her door, carrying a basket of pickled onions, […]
Bone birds fly with the tide they once knew. The tide’s a pitiful thing now, the sea so small, only a twitch in the rotting salt along the plastic pebbles of the beach. But bone birds are nothing but memory. If you raise a new wall in their way, they’ll beat themselves against it until […]
1. Because I never wanted to be a teacher in the first place.2. Because I graduated from the South Florida Villain Academy with the goal of becoming a professional villain.3. Because my father had always talked about how much he loved his villain gig, until he didn’t.4. Because my telekinesis only worked during the new […]
This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the End of Plastic (2029) article, about the Tremella purgare fungus, released into the Gulf of Mexico following the TransAm War Oil Spill, and the knock-on impact of the attempted bioremediation. This page has been listed as a level-3 vital article in Earth. If you can […]
My eleven-year-old son Wasim slides his book bag from his shoulders and runs towards the new birdcage, his eyes brimming with excitement.“Thank you for these beautiful birds, Ammi,” he says.“Glad you like them,” I ruffle his hair.He peers at the silent birds, then scrolls through my phone and reads, “These birds are budgerigars, not parrots. […]
Does anyone have visions these days? Or is it just authors? As I write this essay, the global climate summit ends with no commitment regarding moving away from fossil fuels. At one point during negotiations, representatives from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) walked out in protest. It seems pretty certain that we will […]