Evolution

i. Moss

If only I could become one with the earth. I would lay down on the sweet scented grass. I would sink so low, into the moss, dried leaves, and crushed up Coke cans. I would be a part of the undergrowth itself, with the ants crawling into my shirt sleeves. I would be back home.

ii. Toads

There's something in the way that he looks at me. I wouldn't call it butterflies. They are more like giant toads, gurgling with the pace of my heartbeat. I feel the slime clogging up my throat, and I'm unable to speak. This is real love.

iv. Birds

From afar, white swans look like angels, with their feathery wings and bright beaks. Up close, they look like plain geese, with thick, slimy tongues. They make the most awful sounds, and they peck the mallards. I'll never trust beauty again.

iii. Rodents

My kindergarten used to have a class pet. A small white bunny. My teacher got it for us so we could learn how to respect and appreciate nature. The boys in my class would take the bunny out of its cage and put it in a plastic dump truck. They would wheel the bunny round and round the classroom until they got dizzy and rolled on the floor laughing. I laughed too.

v. Sheep

Apple, Bieber, Cadillac, Denny's, E-bay, Friends, Game of Thrones, Halo, IBM, J.C. Penney, Kylie Jenner, La-Z-Boy, Muppets, Nike, Olive Garden, Playboy, Qatar Airways, Ramsay, Subway, Trump, University of Toronto, Vanity Fair, Wild Wings, X-Box, Yahoo, Zac Efron. We know the alphabet because we are sheep.

vi. Hooves

I fell off a horse only once. It dodged the jump that was right in front of it. My instructor told me that horses could smell fear. That I had to be more assertive. More forceful. I was never a good horseback rider. I just pretended that I was.

vii. Lion

I wish I could be brave, but I do the same things everyday, that will eventually lead me to an abyss, to the undergrowth, my whole self absorbed into the moss. Why do we bother brushing our teeth, selling our time for currency, getting into petty quarrels with each other, buying chocolate cake...? Why do we do this knowing we are part of the undergrowth? We're not lions at all. 

viii. Human

He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. Chanting the prayer as I demolish the innocent white daisy, piece by piece. In elementary school, my friend told me that if you made a wish, and rubbed a yellow dandelion on your arm, and it left a trail, then your wish would come true. Now, I wish that I were a white daisy, with my destiny squeezed in between someone else's slender fingers. Back then, I probably wished for the new Barbie doll. The one that wore high heels and had her own car with a trunk. It's what every girl wanted.