Once there was a lake.

One of “those” lakes.

Where the water was every adjective for clear

And the air was every adjective for healthy.

Few knew of its location

(#HikeUpAfterTheSecondHugeBoulderWith “I Love LOVE” SprayPaintedOnIt),

And for those who did,

They kept it as a treasured adjective/noun.

But then someone told someone

Who told someone

Who told the Internet.

And now the adjective for clear is filled with diapers and empty things

And fishing line.

Oddly, the light from a Bluetooth speaker can still be seen at the bottom like the eye of an angular fish.

Once there was a meadow/field/sizeable piece of land

Surrounded by ______________, __________, and other beautiful sights/smells/sensations.

The wildflowers were from the biggest box of crayons

Not the 8 pack (or was it 7?). #GoogleIt? #Internet

One could sit/ponder/stare/breathe for a long time. #ALongTime.

Few knew of its location,

For the bird songs were as rare as knowing how to get there.

#TurnAtTheOnlyYellowBirch

A place to heal wounds and to create meaning

A place to conjure the courage to reach out and open one’s fears

To “seek the treasure inside the cave you’re afraid to enter.” #Cambell #NotTheSoup

But then someone told someone

Who told someone

Who told the Internet

And now there are no more flowers,

But you can buy them on various websites. #DriedOut #Pintrest #BestFlowersEVER

Once there was a cafe

In a city

With all the things that make one of those cafes

A place worth finding,

Though it was hard to find.

#TurnAtTheStatueOfTheQuestionableButterfly

The sunlight was orange inside

During sunset

And pink

In the morning.

The same family owned it

For as long as anyone could remember.

Kind of like “Cheers” but without the underlying narratives.

One could get a cup of tea/coffee/hello/GoodMorning

And either join in on a lively conversation about Emerson/Jazz/CinnamonBunRecipes/Pigeons/Q-bert/TheRhetoricOfBugsBunny/TheDeclarationOf Independence/OtherStuff

Or listen.

Or neither.

A fine place to start or end a day.

But then someone told someone

Who told someone

Who told the Internet.

And now the family has been overrun with customers,

And custom customer orders,

And complaints for not making the custom customer orders exactly custom.

So “Closed for ReAdjustment”

is in the orange light.

Once there was a ski trail

Not just any ski trail

But like a Shel Silverstein ski trail,

Without the underlying narratives.

A waist-deep-in-snow kind of place.

Relieving amounts of space yawned between the aspen and birch.

Easy to find a rhythm (if it’s easy, ever)

A mountain surf to clear the mind.

To keep one aware of the vast and massive energies that surround us

And are within us

That connect us

And begin us. #TooMuch?

But someone told someone

Who told someone

Who told the Internet

And now the line of parked cars with Bold/Subversive/Clever/Funny Bumper Stickers are

As long as whatever you need to see, to see the long line of cars as being long. #FunToSay

And there are granola bar wrappers (dropped accidentally), and a hat is on a branch.

The person who found it put it there for whoever lost it to find. #Kindness #MakeAmericaKindAgain

The snow is almost completely skied off just after the pink of sunrise, fyi.

**Eventually, a venture capitalist looked up who owned it and bought it from the private logging company and now is selling day passes** #YouWantedToKnow

(This one is tad wacky/Warhol-ish/vague/reaching.) (Bare with your struggling writer, for a moment.)

Once there was an Idea

That made life better

Because of the ideas that that idea created.

But the options to create Better

Turned into options to create BetterForMe.

And so the idea was fouled and the disproportionate balance of intention slid into the tiny giant of Ego/Toys/Competition/My______isBetterThenYour_______/SimplePsychologicalRationalizing.

#ItsOkay #ItsNotOkay #ItsAnythingButOkay #ItsOkay

The hinges rusted while the walls were painted with proverbial gold,

Not too fast,

At first.

But then VERY fast.

Which is what happens …

Because it happens …

#ToldYa #TellMe #TellEachOther #BeTogether

Help me/you/us finish this next one:

Once there were 8 billion people …

—

Jason Smith (the one with the orange cat) lives in Saranac Lake.