Friday, January 18, 2008

Friday Dinner Party Conversation Stopper

Especially if polenta is on the menu:
In terms of its consciousness, corn isn't particularly evolved, endlessly preening itself for having once been used as legal tender in place of gold and silver. Like most feed crops it's fascist at heart, taking strength from numbers. It started out as grass. It doesn't even know how to talk.

Lichen, on the other hand, lives to be very old and can survive the worst the world has to offer. Storms and wars, fires and floods. Lichen speaks a language like some music, repetitive and incantatory: manna star fold star. star star fold reindeer. fold fold fold fold. starlight starlight.
Kathryn Davis, The Thin Place.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It must be the radioactivity from fallout. Lichen, particularly in the Arctic, concentrates it.

MT said...

She's obviously deep into corn futures.

jenhargis said...

I realize that we are speaking of vegetable here, but I would like to point out that cheese can get real old, real quick.