But Don’t Worry/Entropic

table of contents

***

But Don’t Worry

I imbued the trees

with normatropism

even though it took

several years

with Earth’s scarce magic

to work out the summoning rings

to make brains

out of tree sap;

it took so long

I ate the life of some trees first

to keep my skin from getting as wrinkled as theirs,

but then the ones I didn’t eat

I imbued

with an awareness of humanity

but without a knowing

of the witch who made them

because I was rebelling

against contropism,

that thirst

to move myself toward

power,

even though 

some might eventually figure out

where they came from,

and I think I really craved that

but at least

I made it harder

to earn the satisfaction

of a sapient species praising me;

like a fruit

ripening

and rotting,

its seed

growing into a whole new tree,

at least

it’d take longer

for them to call me creator

(though maybe it’d be

much more pleasing

when they did).

I imbued the trees,

pasted summoning rings

carved by komodo claws

on mackerel skins I caught myself

to the bark of beeches

and gave them brains

with a basic knowledge

of humanity

such that

almost by instinct

they began shapeshifting

to warm bodies

with beating hearts

but I only got through

half a dozen trees

before the half-formed humans started falling over

and wailing

and flailing

and I went

yikes

they have the experience

of babies.

But don’t worry,

it only took me

a day or so

to work out the runes

to change them back,

I rolled their naked bodies into a cleared circle of dirt

and scribbled around their thirsty shouting

and poof

six new acacia trees

by the beach

and no

I didn’t make them beech trees

like they’d been before,

I didn’t have time

to search for that rune

in a book

or experiment for a week

to find it

but they were fine

as acacias–

at least,

they were no longer dying,

so they were probably

better than fine.

***

Entropic

is not a botanical or zoological term

so

maybe it doesn’t define a tropism

but it’s fitting

that a single word

describes

what happened to Brisbane.