Karmic Tide
by J.A. Pak
Digging in another garden, jumping into another space and time, I impaled a toad on the tines of a garden fork. At first I thought the toad was a clump of clay, stuck to the thick tine, but before I could kick the clay off with my boot, it metamorphosed into limbs, and then a face, the brown clump shaping into a body before my disbelieving eyes. Strangely bloodless and so alive, the toad's eyes bulged and I felt all the boundaries of life beginning to dissolve and the blood (so hot, so hot) I now saw was the dizzying haze as life magnetized, pooling itself from all its droplets like the balling sun. It's difficult to pull back, defragment. To scrape the toad from the prongs of the garden fork and to think that death feeds life, as the toad will feed the birds and so on. Still, when the cloud of insects nip away at me, do I believe, or does it matter what belief, caught traveling inside the karmic tide?
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Author's Note
A version was published in Identity Theory.
Other stories by J.A. Pak
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The mystical questions combined with the half dead toad made a compelling combo. I found this extremely interesting. Different. I like different, esp when it's well done like here.
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Poor toad. Beautiful piece. Hope I merit such an eloquent near-obituary.
This reminds me of the koan, "Does a dog have Buddha Nature?" for which there is only one and utterly unreasonable answer.
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Susan, thanks so much for your wonderful comment.
Gill, thanks so much. I'm sure your obituary will be quite beautiful, but I hope your death will be much more peaceful!
James, I think my awareness of the poor toad's suffering more than made up for his "mu". ;)
Well done. Vividly thoughtful piece. *
Thanks so much, Beate!
A strong piece -
"Strangely bloodless and so alive, the toad's eyes bulged and I felt all the boundaries of life beginning to dissolve and the blood (so hot, so hot) I now saw was the dizzying haze as life magnetized, pooling itself from all its droplets like the balling sun."
Wish I'd written it. *
Wow, thanks, Sam.