#cracked pavement

[midwestbelladonna]

Empty overgrown lot

[elizjjwold]

by Elizabeth Johnson-Wolddd

[visualwritingprompts2]

Visual Writing Prompt #390

[mggoteater]

Parking lot finds

[sluggoonthestreet]

Know Your Goblins #137: No matter how much he asks, never pick up a Toothsome Gerald. He will suddenly weigh a ton and be impossible to put down.

[visualwritingprompts2]

Visual Writing Prompt #297

[fiercefauna]

Diverse, green and millions of uniquely adapted species strong. They were daft to think, that they could just pave over it.

Hello - The following is a brief written piece inspired by my recent quest to map out what grows wild or feral on the few square miles accessible on foot from my home, be they beneficial natives, benign immigrants, local thugs, or oppressive invaders. I’ve found more than I’d expect. And many have stories. I’ll add that the game Disco Elysium was a strong influence on the style and voice.

The slipstream of trucks hurrying their shipments to parts unknown blasts the yellow plumes of late season grasses on highway hillsides. Feathery hands that wave to the traffic also cast flying seeds to the birds, to the wind, to cats chasing fluffy down through damp ally ways, and to the little girl with her dirty fingers and pots of wildflowers. 

Winter is coming to the subtropics, brief and desperate as it is, hoping to freeze pipes, ruin a few houses and perhaps a few lives, if it’s lucky - before the onset of mid-February and the slow retreat, of the ferns and mosses of the cold monsoon. 

The tepid mists tease out the seedlings of hairy bittercress, a European immigrant that plans to lie low beneath home awnings, riding out the winter only to invade every damp nook and cranny come spring. Beside it, native pony’s foot, whorled pennywort and hoary Bowlesia. Between them, the whisper of a soft, shy green suede that could be either algae or moss. It awaits the wet winter and the remission of more aggressive fair weather fiends. 

Dips a tire into a patch of Bermuda grass, prostrate in spaulding pavement before the drive. It will survive. The grass is not from Bermuda rather - it has overrun the place, and seeks to do the same to the neighboring continent. The Buttonweed however, has been here since before memory, hiding beneath the lawns its leaves impersonate, invisible until it’s iconic white blooms taunt the grounds keeper. 

We are here. 

We are waiting,

in the cracks,

on the wind. 

Come, 

Find us. 

[emperornorton47]

Cracked Pavement