a brief narrative

I lay on my left side staring into nothing; slowly breathing in and out. A bird sang persistently outside my open window. Suddenly the singing stopped. As traffic noises arose and dissolved, I listened to the silence between the sounds.

---

in other isolated incidents...

---

I stared at my watch as nothing continued to happen.

I watched two butterflies alight on the same leaf. After a short time one flew away. The other remained on the leaf.

While recalling a humorous moment, I chuckled slightly to myself. Eventually my thoughts turned to something else.

a short while ago

A loud alarm sounded from a clock reading 7am. For a moment I wondered where I was. I reached out to shutoff the alarm.

I saw a fan rotating in a counter-clockwise direction. There was a slight breeze emanating from the fan.

I pondered the meaning of the word "hipster." Over time my curiosity faded.

I looked at my dog and yawned in the same moment that my dog looked at me and yawned.

While walking across the yard, I noticed I was walking into the wind.

A butterfly flew across my path. It did not pause to beg my pardon.

Among millions of green blades of grass, a few had tiny purple, or yellow flowers.

Crickets chirped loudly from a bush along a path. As I approached, the chirping stopped altogether.

A spongy, fushia-colored stalk protruded vertically fom the ground. When I brushed it with my foot, it was uprooted and fell sideways into a horizontal position.

just today

after walking the dog in the woods, I washed mud from my feet with the hose.

I noticed small blue flowers on the bush outside my window.

a bird sat on a wire and continued to sing.

after viewing a film, I was completely silent.

eventually, noises came out of nowhere, and sank back into nothing.

I watched a butterfly sit motionless, still clinging to its cocoon.

I banged a ball of string against a post, and wasps flew out.

a gnat flew close to my face and landed on my arm. I swatted it with my hand. it somersaulted to the floor where it lay dead.

I was reminded, "that death is the opposite of birth, and that life has no opposite."

someone told me that today was an unlucky day. a part of me believed him.

sometimes I catch myself waiting for something to happen.

as I walked from beneath the shelter, a raindrop hit my forehead and splashed across my face.

---

some time ago. . .

---

I watched a hummingbird hover above a plant with red flowers. then it suddenly flew away.

I watched clouds float slowly across the sky, but I never saw where they went.

a crawfish crawled across the yard. I gave it a name. a few days later, I found it dead.

I watched a woodpecker repeatedly pecking on metal stadium lights.

a hawk flew an arc overhead. it was pursued thru the air by a smaller bird.

a man missing his front teeth pulled a car onto the lawn under a tree. he did not speak much english.

a snake lay underneath a tree. it had swallowed something large. I looked into its eyes, and walked away. a bird chased the snake under a bush.

a man in a green truck told me that he had seen large alligators while walking thru the swamp.

a girl at the drive-thru put change in my hands and sent a shiver down my spine.

I watched a snake climb up a tree. the bark made a soft crackling sound as it ascended.

I found white feathers, entrails, and a small white egg scattered in a field on easter day.