This is a piece submitted to, and published, by @what_theme_zine. So proud to have had this piece included as is the first time I have had someone print out my name and something I have written. The theme for all pieces was simply, ‘I hate the moon’. They have some amazing pieces collection, here is mine.
Dear resident,
Have you ever looked at a bird, the way it moves? How the wings flutter in their delicate dance to move that plump little body around? Ever sat down and looked up at a giant redwood and thought, wow, this is big. Looked at how it is held together by the cells that make it?
Seen the oceans? I am sure you have. Look how far they go, the way they keep the land in place by the simple force of there weight on them, this wasn’t an accident. The variety of life that lives there and how it all flourishes, again, this was on purpose.
I know you have seen these things and thought these questions, and more. You have the likes of David Attenborough showing you all these wondrous things out there. You sit there with your big TVs and gawk at the images brought to you from around the world. But I also know you look out of the window and wonder what is out there. You know, space.
The wonders of the burning stars, turning hydrogen into helium. The galaxies out there with the equations far beyond your brain comprehending why they move the way they do. Even though people like Brian Cox try to help. The power in those black holes and the balance of a nebula to birth new stars from. All these things in that thing you so elegantly, and simply, call ‘space’.
But you know what your species has spent most of the time looking at. Painting pictures of. Gazing up at.
The moon.
The blob of rock that I put there to keep the rolling oceans moving to give you waves to surf on. To keep the current going around for life that is full of colours and variety. Textures and tastes (since you all like to eat everything you find. I didn’t make things poisonous to you at first you know. That was an edit to slow your kind down).
But no, the thing you sit there and stare at. The thing you gawk at and consider to be such an amazing sight is something that simply reflects the light from the sun. You know the sun, it’s that thing that allows life on your planet. That ball of gas burning that also gives you the shows of light on the top and bottom, or bottom and top if you are from New Zealand, on your planet. That thing that burns just strong enough to not burn you all into dust!
The moon is a by product to keep things running. To give light at night so you don’t bump into things when walking around but also not there sometimes to let you sleep and you know, look at all those stars I made for you to think about and make patterns from.
So of all the things I have made, the wonderfully complex eye, the balance of life and co-dependence between life forms from the tiny bacteria to the giant blue whales. You sit there and look at the moon.
This is why I hate the moon, you are amazed by the simple ball of clay, not the masterpieces around you.
Yours sincerely,
The architect
S J Lister. Author 