Madness string 81371

Random mermaid
And all the time - such is a tragi-comedy of our situation - we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

The smell of earth, that deep, rich, fragrant smell you get after a long-awaited rain, even, or perhaps especially, the smallest shower, disturbing the dusty ground in a breath of cool without really doing much else... that earthen smell, the same smell as the taste of beets, it's fungus, right? AM I EATING SUGAR FUNGUS BLOOD CUBES?