The Problem with Edibles
The problem with edibles is so much magic all at once.
Someone gives you a lemon gummy, which you think is nothing to write home about until you're flat on your back. Your brain is having rapid-fire epiphanies, the projector whirring images so fast you can barely keep up, while a different part of your brain observes, smiling – perhaps even smirking a bit – that these newly revealed secrets of the universe are not remarkably original, but rather the old verities.
Everything is sentient, even your space pen.
Everything is connected, except the malevolent printer.
Everything that can bud wants to bloom.
Everything has an on/off toggle, but you're not sure who or what controls it.
Just as you are about to discern the secret of the universe, you fall asleep.
Oh well, the next time, if there is one, you can ask the next turtle down.
Sharon Hoffmann is a writer based in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Publications include New York Quarterly, Beloit Poetry Journal, Alice Walker: Critical Perspectives (Harvard University Press), Isle of Flowers (Anhinga Press), South Florida Poetry Journal, Assignment, Letters, Poetica, Wild Roof, Sho, Qu and other magazines. Awards include fellowships from Atlantic Center for the Arts and Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs, and three Pushcart nominations.