THE FOREST DWELLERS OF HEAVENLY HILL: a short story

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From the Spring 2021 edition of The Mark Literary Review:


The music festival happened to coincide with Earth Day, and all over campus, taped to every lamp post and pinned to every bulletin board, there were propagandistic displays of pantheism— anthropomorphic planets spouting somber platitudes (“We were born to save the world, not spoil it”), mischievous woodland elves tiptoeing through lush gardens, whimsical pixies with pink flower petals swirling around their dainty ankles, alluring fertility goddesses draped in billowing lace robes of blue and green, their fingers fondling black irises and priapic mushrooms. Irritated by all of this trendy idolatry, Taylor averted her eyes and spent her evenings in pious prayer. She believed the season had a much more profound and sacred meaning. But now, as she traveled south to the river, she began to wonder if nature did indeed possess some subtle power to confound and deliberately mislead a person of faith.

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