every perspective requires a metaphor

every perspective requires a metaphor

fiction
edward w pritchard

It takes a lot of time to conjure up all those metaphors. Not very practical really. Sometimes we just re-use the old ones, again and again. What does it matter. It's so difficult to conjure when we only have half the facts. Here's a previously published look at romance. The idolization of apparitions.

straw dogs that talk back

Nobody cares the end of straw dogs. Somebody must burn them and Mei made her living in the destruction of straw dogs after their use had been served. Straw dogs in ancient Chinese lore were treated with respectful deference prior to their use as an offering and then summarily destroyed.

Jobs were difficult to find and life was expensive and a lone woman must be ruthless to survive. Mei learned the skill from her Father and guarded the secret of how to burn and destroy the straw dogs carefully for the technique of destruction could be learned and taught in a few minutes.

Mei came in alone to gather the straw dogs. She grabbed them carefully and circled their bodies with her arms and then closed the arms together for the straw dogs had straw that was razor sharp to human touch and the tips of the straw was sharp like the point of a surgeon's scalpel. As she walked with the straw dogs to the fire to be throw in to be burned and destroyed Mei often would gently touch her lips to the straw dog just before she threw it into the fire. Never yet, but maybe someday, Mei hoped to hear a straw dog talk to her as she carried it to the fire, so she always listened intently as she walked toward the bright crackling fire.