“A Picture Worth 100 Words” and “Seasons”

A Picture Worth 100 Words
—after Astrid Preston’s “Overlapping”

Nature
Earth’s form of life
Laurel. Oak. Fir.
Each tree with its own history
Yet their branches intertwined

Memories
Overlapping
Holes made in time
Instances captured in two dimensional form

Painted precisely
Using but the finest of brush
Careful not to leave even one stroke out of place
Pictured all at once

Overlapping

The changing of color, leaves fall
A blanket of white, snow piles high
The ground full of colors, days filled with showers, flowers at full bloom
The long warm days and sun kissed skin

All indications of time passing
All overlapped as if time stood still
All perfection

***

Seasons
—after Astrid Preston’s “Overlapping”

Yes
Nature is beautiful
But it’s not all that it seems
In the summer, people see blue skies and summer breeze

While I see…Nothing
Literally
The sun shines so bright it hurts my eyes
I wake up in a pool of my own sweat
And don’t get me started on mosquitoes

Fall
A time most people think
Yay! pumpkin spice EVERYTHING
Scented candles! Cute boots! Colored leaves!

When all I think is “oh great! Now I have to pick up all those leaves”
Waking up everyday wondering what to wear due to cold mornings and hot afternoons
Thank god autumn only lasts like 2 days in Bakersfield

Now don’t get me wrong, winter is great
There’s snowmen and snowflakes
There’s skating and sledding
But not here!

In Bakersfield all I can expect is
The cold, wet mornings
Ruining my shoes
Making me NOT want to get up to go to school
Having frostbite on my toes from wearing sandals to class
And not being able to write since I need time to let the numbness pass

Spring is a time when most people are joyous
There’s flowers and love and green all around
People play at the park and run in their sprinklers
Best time of the year!….WRONG!

Spring is the time when more homework is given
And all of my hours are spent studying for countless finals taken in class
It’s the time when the sun can be out but you still feel chilly
And all I can think about is that one sweet week I like to call Spring Break

That aside, all of these seasons have something in common
They all show the complexity of this world
The dimensions within every ecosystem
They show the beauty created by man AND nature

All overlapping
All pictured as one
These are seasons to a cycle that are never done

***

Carolina Ruiz was born and raised in Bakersfield, California and is currently a student at California State University- Bakersfield as a Biology major. She is expanding into the idea of double majoring into English. This is her first to be published literary work, but hopes more are soon to come as more increases to inspire her.