Adamantine

Written By Amanda Barusch
Smooth river rocks surrounded by ice.

Ice sheathes the earth.

A crystal illusion, held

by surface tension

(like wedding rings).

At first, sliding along, it insisted so clearly.

The tension did.

The slide so smooth, so quick,

you barely noticed.

But Time.

Time, entropy, and the errant molecule.

The center may hold, but at the edges

molecules break free. They rebel. They elope.

(New bonds are formed.)

Ice evaporates.

Amanda Barusch

Amanda Barusch has worked as a janitor, exotic dancer, editor, and college professor. She lives in the American West, where she spends as much time as possible on dirt paths. She has an abiding disdain for boundaries and adores ambiguity. Amanda has published eight books of non-fiction, a few poems, and a growing number of short stories. Aging Angry is her first work of creative non-fiction. She uses magical realism to explore deep truths of the human experience in this rapidly changing world.

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