Name

Emma crushed the petals of wood roses and the skin of tomatoes into a paste.  She shook the dried bells of flax and collected the fine black seeds in her palm.  She gathered yellow pollen in a small jar.

Using braided grass as a brush, Emma painted her name in paste on a flat grey stone.  Not in flowing or flourishing style.

“EMMA” in simple block letters.

She sprinkled flax seed and pollen over the sticky letters and brushed away the excess.

Emma did not love her name.  Rather, she felt reduced by it.  Caged.

Emma carried the stone to the crest of a hill and placed it where rains would gradually wash way the letters when storms arrived and she walked away with yellow fingers and a strange satisfaction.

—Mitchell Hegman