roots

Back To Your Roots

by Carlton Mellick III

I shake hands with a tree when suddenly my hand becomes attached, glued to it as if sap has gotten on my palm. My fingers become one with the bark. My arm mutates into a branch with twigs, leaves. The tree stands mute, watching me, as wood coats my skin, down my legs, up my neck, until I can't move. My lower half has become rooted in the soil. And just before my eyes go hard, I gaze out to see a forest of human beings. All of whom have returned to nature.

Carlton Mellick III has sold over 40 stories and poems. He runs Eraserhead Press, a chapbook publisher of contemporary surrealism, and has written four novels. Look for his work in upcoming issues of Xero, Driver's Side Airbag, The Dream Zone, Lethologica, and Redsine.