Now appearing in Gloom Cupboard # 102:

PALM DUSK

Don’t be fooled by the thick humidity. The day grows darker than you imagine in a twilight vaguely illuminated by the burning tops of the palm trees; forty-four fronds blazing away, swaying in the gentle East Bay winds.

All beneath the particulate marine layer with an eye for a local mortgage; weather drawn by the density of bodies. Elements are as the blank slate of wills of you and I with our pretensions to an immortal phantasmagoria.

For a time there had been a growing sun, as if Orion had thrown out his arms to embrace the Earth as his lover.