Friday, March 26, 2010

Prompt: Fall of the Berlin Wall

Inspired by a prompt from Jim Murdoch

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It begins and ends with roots. Rooted in history. Rooted in blood. Rooted in dirt.

The dirt is fundamental. Things rise up out of dirt, out of rocks. Everything comes back to dirt.

The roots wend their way down. They crumble cities and split mountains, but without drama. Drama is artificial. Roots are natural, and very businesslike. A little at a time, they pry stones apart, gnaw mortar, spread and spread and while they break it up, they hold it together, and you’d never know it to look at it but it’s already falling apart.

Then one day someone… pushes.

7 comments:

Jim Murdoch said...

I think your tags cover everything I might have wanted to say about this one. A more poetic approach than I expected not that I ever truly know what to expect when I click on one of your stories. Thanks for the opportunity to provide you with a prompt.

Scattercat said...

What, even the random Boondock Saints quote?

I never know what to do with the real world, so I retreat into metaphor and obfuscation. I mean, I was in the single digits, age-wise, when the Wall came down, so what I know about it I know from history lessons and Wikipedia.

Jim Murdoch said...

You did fine. Had I been asked to guess what your approach would have been I would have expected you to shift Berlin through time and space, perhaps the fall of the New Berlin Wall. Something like that.

Deb Markanton said...

This one is amazing! Love the roots analogy.

Scattercat said...

@Jim

Nah. Too straightforward. ;-) Maybe I'd go that route if the event in question was one I knew better, had more of a grounding in the details of, then maybe, 'cause I could weasel in some sideways winks and nudges. (I think I did a *very* obscure reference to Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe way back in the day, for instance.)

@Deb

Roots freak me out. I can't even pick up a potato that's sprouted. I always feel like it's trying to burrow into my hand. I try not to rely too heavily on my personal squicks, in general, but all I could think of here was Frost and "Something There Is."

dolorah said...

Interesting approach. I liked the roots analogy - then the push. Cause and effect at its best.

.......dhole

Scattercat said...

Looking back, it seems pretty clear that the USSR was falling apart for decades before the actual end. But the impact on people... I mean, just look at the art in America from that time period. Crazy stuff.