“earth in bloom” is a short story i wrote back in 2019, about a month before my wife and i were married. its been kept away in a backlog with a few other short stories that i wrote between the years of 2018-2020. not sure what to make of most of them, or this one even, but i hope the words mean something to you.
kindly,
- mike
earth in bloom
It was early and he had just stepped out onto the front porch of his cabin. The woods were quiet in contrast to the creaking of the floorboards beneath his feet. He tightened his leather boots and walked out on the stone path toward the lake.
He reached into his front flannel pocket for a cigarette, lit one with a paper match, and stepped off the stone path onto the dirt road. It took a quarter of an hour to get there, and he smoked four times.
The man arrived at the lake shore and dropped his pack on the dirt. He brought out a tackle box and set up his fishing rod. A lure was already tied to the line but he wanted to try a new one he welded in his garage. It was metal with soldered eyes and fins, stained with black paint left from the cabin's previous owner. He cut the old lure off with his rusted pocket knife and fastened the new lure.
The sun peeked over the snow capped mountains as he threw out the first cast. The line cut through the fog on the lake as it glided in the air. It landed with a subtle splash that rippled the water infinitely. He took a deep breath and patiently waited for the line to set. He tipped the rod front-faced and slowly reeled the lure back to shore.
Four hours passed and he caught no fish. He felt hungry for the first time in days and decided to go home and eat lunch. The man sent out his final cast and propped the rod on a stump. He reorganized the tackle box and brought out another cigarette. As he smoked the rod jumped from the stump into the lake water. The man spat out the cigarette and promptly waded in the water to grab it.
With each step he sank beneath the surface. The rod was several feet ahead and jerked from side to side erratically. He pushed off the last of the shallow earth beneath his feet and swam toward it.
The rod dipped and bobbed and the man finally reached out to it with his left hand. He turned back to the shore in order to gain a solid footing. The rod yanked him back toward the center of the lake and pulled him furiously underneath the water.
Light from the early morning sun faded in the background. A soft whisper on the back of his neck penetrated through the torrent and he heard a woman speak to him but could not make out the words. All there was to hear was noise stifled by violent motion.
He lost his breath as the rod pulled him further down. What was once dark now turned blood red in the expanse. A holy fire beneath the surface.
The rod slipped through the man's fingertips. It disappeared in fleeting seconds and left the man leagues below the shoreline. He looked skyward and saw nothing. There was nothing but blood red in the expanse. He kicked and propelled himself with his arms upward, toward where he believed he needed to go.
breath of life, breath of fury,
breath of soul, breath of action -
He eventually came to his feet off the shore. He looked down and his hands and saw blood from opened scar tissue. He laid down on the sand and rocks and gently closed his eyes.
breathe in, shallow, deep, over and over -
Several hours passed as the man lay rested on the ground. There were voices that shouted in the distance, human and animal. Beasts of the night. These came with the fading sun religiously, as most things do. Life restless until forced to quiet the soul. Repeated in all things wild and tame, in an industrial loop. These voices grew louder and he stayed and silently listened in his sleep. Vivid shapes created in the empty and he did not know what they meant in time present.
A soft whisper like the sound of someone familiar broke his silence. He opened his eyes to the wolf of the lake who stood over his body and stared straight into his line of sight. He had met the wolf in a past life yet he seemed foreign in this hour. Once black and pronounced now turned grey with clouded eyes and weathered feet.
With his jagged teeth the wolf grabbed the man and drug him across the shore back to the dirt path in the woods. He bit off fabric from his flannel shirt and bolted through the dark. Moments later he returned with the bear of the lake. The man knew the bear and noticed he too had aged since the last time. The bear towered over the two on his hind legs, once brown and strong now grey and gaunt where strength used to lie. He held the piece of flannel in his left paw and fastened it into two pieces and tied them around the man's decayed hands. He lifted the man in his arms and walked steadily back toward the lake water.
have you seen the emerald eyes,
like those that were here before
but are now lost in a
sacred hiding place -
The bear and wolf approached the water and it was black and empty as the night that enveloped it. In unison they took in four breaths through the nose and out the mouth. After the fourth breath they held in one final. All fell silent, the shouting of the voices and restlessness of the earth ceased to exist in the passing moment. The two released their breath after minutes passed in dark silence and the bear and wolf exhaled fire into the atmosphere, littered in cosmic colour and patterned movement. The fire turned blood red in the expanse and filled the night sky across the mountains that overlooked the lake below.
The bear dipped the man into the water. It covered his entire body including his emerald eyes which shone brightest once submerged.
vision of a pure soul, once dressed in minimal understanding of the infinite -
The man woke on the hard earth outside his cabin. He looked down at his hands and there were no cuts or scars to see. He stood up wearily and grabbed his pack laid beside him on the ground. He walked onto the floorboards of the porch which creaked underneath his feet and he unhitched the door to walk inside the yellow lit warmth.
as it has been and ever will be,
the sun rises and sets in cold winds,
a feedback loop, played for you -
This night and always.