By Julie Wornan
When the world was in its egg
Mother Gaia kept it warm.
Swirling tides of fantasy
Held it in charm.
When the pecking urge prevailed
In a furious bursting fit,
In the book of space and time
A new page was writ.
Bug and fish and bird in flight,
Petal and thorn,
In a storm of joy and love
Our world was born.
In the cradle of the night
Melodious and warm
Eyes that had been shuttered tight
Opened one by one.
Learn and know and do and do.
There's no right or wrong.
We can do much more than you.
You'll soon be gone.
We climb up the power tree
dizzyingly high.
Try to follow and you'll get
Kicked in the eye.
Gaia's gone. Her shadow's but
A sob and a sigh.
In a storm of rage and hate
This world will die.
About the Author
I'm a native New Yorker but my home is in France. After I retired as a computer programmer, I discovered the delight of writing for those irrational beings called People. I think of fantasy as a window into another reality. And, I like to write very short stories because Small is Beautiful. Some of my work has appeared on Bewildering Stories <http://www.bewilderingstories.com/> and AntipodeanSF <http://www.antisf.com/>.
If you like my stories, you can download my e-book titled "The Mutual Reverse See," from www.amazon.fr/The-Mutual-Reverse-See-ebook/dp/B007VDEHHQ
Photography is another hobby of mine. You can see some of my photo compositions on http://www.flickr.com/photos/julieeiluj/ .
I feel deep concern about the future of our one and only planet. (You do too, right?). So I wrote a graphic novel, "Saving Our Planet," to explain climate change to young people. It's available on amazon in 4 languages. And a song, "The Change of Climate", to the tune of "The Sound of Silence"; you can listen to it here: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY5MKPGr8RA>.
Brian Biswas lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.
Ed lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.
Sarah Jane Justice is an Adelaide-based fiction writer, poet, musician and spoken word artist.
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
Tara Campbell is an award-winning writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse, and graduate of American University's MFA in Creative Writing.
Barry Yedvobnick is a recently retired Biology Professor. He performed molecular biology and genetic research, and taught, at Emory University in Atlanta for 34 years. He is new to fiction writing, and enjoys taking real science a step or two beyond its known boundaries in his
My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.
Emma Louise Gill (she/her) is a British-Australian spec fic writer and consumer of vast amounts of coffee. Brought up on a diet of English lit, she rebelled and now spends her time writing explosive space opera and other fantastical things in
James Walton was a librarian, a farm labourer, and mostly a public sector union official.
Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake