The Isolation Journals - Day 86

Prompt:  Pick five items from the list below.
 
popcorn * lettuce * iceberg * cotton candy * puffs * sugar cubes * dandelions * buttercups * pallbearer * clothesline * National Geographic * fire ants * watermelon * sunflowers * ticket stub * campfire * satellite * fish scales * baby powder * quilt * broach * barrette * tin can * bingo * Ferris wheel * frisbee * legumes * lima beans * caterpillar * earthworm * mockingbird * wagon * shaved ice * envelope * rotary phone * silk glove * single shoe * postcard * diner * cheese * houseplant * canoe * sharpened pencil * glue * lunch box
 
Then, write one memory associated with the item—or write associations you have of this item—in 200 words or less. Limit the use of “I.” Refrain from stating any emotions. Like dreamscapes, rely on images to convey feeling. Assemble these memory fragments into a collage-essay. Give it a one-word title.

---

SHARDS

watermelon

hiding in the dark playing cops and robbers before the fireworks.  how far can you spit the seeds?  they said if you swallowed them, you'd grow one in your belly.  see that guy over there?  not beer - watermelon.

buttercups

if only peanut butter cups grew so abundantly.  do you like butter, she asked, thrusting the golden petals under chins, searching for a yellow reflection.  there was always a yellow reflection.  anyone who doesn't like butter is lying.

diner

Colonial Diner, Route 45.  2002, 2003?  A bowl of clam chowder (WHY) after Warped Tour - accidental contact high or heat exhaustion?  

fire ants

1989.  Florida.  step out of the Bronco and into the gaping maw of hell.  a pile of sand - resist the siren song - a tiny volcano, dormant, waiting to spew forth 6-legged lava

canoe

or was it a rowboat?  does it matter?  what happened there did not stay there, on that lake.  what was so funny?  did it really warrant teenage pants-peeing?  sworn to secrecy, then couldn't resist - a badge of honor.  if peeing your pants is cool, consider us Miles Davis.