The Taxidermist's Youngest
Thoughts, stories, and poems about what is alive and what is taxidermed.
Category: Uncategorized
Words are like fossils
There is a relationship between written words and fossilization. It is taxidermy of an idea. Words that have ossified can lose their meaning. Words work best when spoken and heard directly. They carry more of the original meaning. We all know about the game…
Robot Birdies and Shapeshifting Buzzards
September 1979 My little birdies cheep so soft that no one else can hear them. They live in a box under my dresser, and when I get them out sometimes there are four but today there are five. I am holding them so carefully…
Taxidermy of Ideas into Ideology
It looks alive, doesn’t it? The glassy eyes of the taxidermed hawk stare no mercy for the mouse he will never devour both wrapped forever in the limbic heat of attack The real hawk is merciful when sated And takes a joyous victory…
Misha’s Ceremony
Chapter 1. (novel in progress) Misha examined herself in the looking-glass, frustrated. Her cheekbones were too long and bony, like the rest of her. The powder could not quite cover up her sun-damage. More than ever, she felt like her face was not her…
The Philosophy of Taxidermy
Taxidermy can be beautiful. The essence of taxidermy is preservation of something that is dead, such that it should look alive, and remind us of the life it once had. My father was a literal taxidermist. He mounted the finest deer heads in Troup…
An A.D.D Teacher’s Prayer
Please God don’t let it all be pointless I want to understand as much as I can beyond the vanishing point of despair. Help me find some bridges When I am out to sea, staring at the stars, my boat drifting farther out. Help…
Stuff I heard Jesus say to me
An agent of sorrow is what people need to outgrow youth’s anger of happiness decreed You traveled down into abysses of shame and built fortress walls of issues to blame You sealed off your heart with a great rolling stone you strengthened…
Serpents, Spelunking, and Gas Station Cappuccino
I drank it with you, that blast of sensory overload. High fructose corn syrup, chemically-induced hazelnut flavor, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil for creamer. But oh, it was the most delicious coffee, because it was with you. Nervous systems charged, we drove to the…
Clucky The Two-Spirit Chicken
Clucky the Two-Spirit Chicken A friend of mine told me some time ago that many tribes of Africa and Native America have the various words for people born not 100% masculine or feminine. One such word is a term of respect; the Two Spirit…
peaches, turtles, and trust
PEACHES Our peach tree was laden with hard green peaches when my friends and I circled around the firepit earlier this summer. It happened to be the last day it was cool enough to abide a fire. The kids ran around playing with shaving…
oud and stars
We blue-violet girls floating above the earth Goitered, bipolar, hysterical, vestibular Torn open and sewn back together too tight silent when we talk divided against ourselves Mud v/s light hidden under flowery print sheaths our mothers made us Like Venus, we are morning star…
Oud
Photo Credit Candice Fee and Stephen Fee. Oud is one of the most expensive, beautiful perfume ingredients in the world. It has been used in religious rituals for anointing since recorded history. Oud comes from a resin extracted from the heartwood of an…
Meeting Philip Glass
Meeting Philip Glass (painting by Chuck Close) This summer I was unexpectedly able to apprehend Phillip Glass on his way from the St. Louis opera house to the reception, I rudely stopped him for a moment and grabbed Phillip Glass’s hand. He is eighty…
My Brother Russ
Today is my brother’s birthday, and I am 616 miles away from him. I wanted to share some of my fondest memories of us growing up. We were a non-yelling, quiet family, so no one really talked unless it was necessary. I was an…
The Genius of Water
Now officially seven and two-thirds, my son can jump into the deep end. With this newfound confidence, he decided he should teach me something as I was sitting on the edge of the pool. He said “Mama, put your hands in. Can you feel…
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