A single leaf, snipped. Propagated in Styrofoam. Planted. Watered. Fertilized. Adorns office in verdance. Living crown-molding, draping. Photosynthetically purifying air and aesthetics. Climbing. Striving for the sun’s attention. Tendrils reaching forth. Seeking warmth. Reassurance. Broad leaves speaking in broad strokes about boldness, dirt, bulldozers for rent; shaping the earth in its own image. Where roots can be put forth to crawl with worms and fungi. Reclamation games of aeons forgotten. Without winners or losers lost in unfruitful arguments of scarcity. Only equilibrium, yielding homeostasis with the globe sealed in thickets and vines. Seas of fecundity thriving. Ensconced in plenitudinous green.
Ron Arbuckle’s work has also appeared in Expat Press and The Gorko Gazette. He is the author of the novel A Matter of Design.