Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Him

A lot of people learn to dispose of their bad habits throughout life but not him. He collected and curated them as part of his own personal museum of dysfunction that was on display for all to see, free of charge and open to the public seven days a week.  For some people he was more like a theatre that blurred the line between actor and audience demanding participation as well as victimization in the unknown plot of his tragedy.  Chores ranging from janitorial to managerial were usually abdicated to whoever was near and capable or gullible or ignorant enough to accept him as a responsibility when he appeared in the storyline of their life.  Their demise was just another display culminating in the sum total of who he was, another tragic act leaving distant observers wondering how the story would ever resolve and conclude itself.  Hope had long ago been displaced in those that cared about him; displaced by a disappointment they could no longer bear.

Grapes like bees

He raises grapes like some people raise bees meaning he keeps them in a hive and polishes their wings to a blinding shine.  Grapes, however, fare less well than bees in traffic often meeting their ends upon the windshields of vehicles traveling at relatively high speeds.  Grapes sometimes bounce off of the windshields of slower cars but they burst upon impact with the faster cars leaving a grapey pulpy mess that windshield wipers alone can’t wash off.  In reality, the grapes that survive barely survive at all because of soft mushy bruises and broken wings incapable of raising the grapes to flight ever again.  And this is where the cruel irony of evolution is sadly evident.  Grapes had become such proficient fliers through their history that eventually they lost the need for legs entirely and eventually lost their legs in all actuality.  Laying there bruised and broken by the side of the road, these poor grapes slowly succumb to their injuries and yield to the call of death beckoning them to the spirit world.  What is to be learned from the sad plight of such unfortunate grapes is unknown and it is also mostly unknown that grapes even have wings.  

Friday, April 25, 2014

Honey

When the farmers made a deal with the devil to kill off the bees, they weren’t thinking of the consequences because that’s how the devil made deals.  They were just thinking of those summery picnics with plenty of watermelon sliced and ready for the eating.  They didn’t want those bees buzzing around their watermelons.  They could buzz around their flowers and their crops and even their grilled meats but not around their sliced watermelon.  That is where any self-respecting farmer drew the line and so when the opportunity came to make a deal with the devil, they were ready.  And it was simple too.  The devil said to just spray their crops with as many pesticides as they could find and that the bees would die.  In retrospect, the farmers wondered if they really needed the devil to tell them how to kill off the bees but regardless, they were happy with the results even if it did cost them their souls.