Swamp Thing Parses the Distance Between Further and Farther
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Look, I don’t want to mislead anyone, so before I go any further, I need to admit a few things. I’ve slept with ghosts, and I’ve wrestled actual demons. One trait I can tell you they both share is a complete lack of joy. I also know what it’s like to BE evergreen, to rest in the knowledge, just like this cypress grove, that you’ll outlast most everything no matter how much salt water comes for your roots. But there’s not much joy in that either, except for moments like this one when I’ve traveled farther across the swamp than I intended to, with the sun already peeking over the edge of the lake. I can say without fear of going too far that minutes like these, when a hundred colors dance across the water’s surface and there aren’t any screams pulling me away or monsters on the loose, are worth every stepthat brought me here.
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Swamp Thing Explains How the Green Works
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Imagine an infinite number of security cameras all sending you surveillance footage at the same time. Every blade of grass, every palmetto frond, needles from the very tops of pine trees—all sharing with you what they feel around them. All at once. All the time. Networked right into vines growing along your spine. Now imagine how many threats that would mean, how many forest fires, droughts, chemical spills, floods, government trucks rutting up the marsh. That’s awareness. That’s the Green.
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Jack B. BedellJack B. Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. Jack’s work has appeared in HAD, Pidgeonholes, The Shore, Okay Donkey, EcoTheo, Heavy Feather, Cheap Pop, and other journals. He has also had work included in Best Microfiction. His latest collection is Against the Woods’ Dark Trunks (Mercer University Press, 2022). He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate 2017-2019.
Twitter // @jackbedell Instagram // @jackbbedell |