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The Best I Can Describe It

First came the single-celled things. Then came the urge to divide. They vibrated, stretched, and became two things. Next came fibers, then worms, etc. Then someone invented the day I was born. Everything bloomed. Congratulations all around. To pass the time we went to nice restaurants. Someone invented overpriced menu items and the joy of ordering them. Someone else invented inexpensive side dishes that can pass as a light meal and the relief of ordering them. Just then my wedge salad arrives. I’m not saying I know how to live. I’m saying I may have invented having cake for breakfast, wine for lunch, and breakfast for dinner. I’m saying I miss my father, who is very much alive. Yesterday I went for a walk in the woods. I watched for signs of life. Moments were giving birth to other moments, something so beautiful I invent myself crying in the woods. Just then someone invents an overturned nest in the grass, fallen from a branch. Giving in to my favorite human instinct, I look into the sky. Just then

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Jeffrey Hermann writes short fiction and prose poems in his spare time. One day when he retires he will write in his regular time. His work is out there if you look. His wife and two children and dog mean everything to him. He has two books forthcoming in 2027, from Unsolicited Press and Gnashing Teeth Publishing.