Pumice Moonwort 6-21-24

 6-21-24 POBR


Warm water on a cold morning blesses the hands of the dishwasher. Today’s adventure was in service of the Forest Service and our mission: locate the elusive Pumice Moonwort of the Pumice High Desert. I asked the Pumice Steward why. Marlo Fisher replied with a, "No clue,"; it's truly the appendix of Mahogany Butte but its recent disappearance is a sign of an imbalance in the ecosystem. To further understand the minuscule world and the forces that govern our giant-infested landscape, we went to work on our water samples. To test water, one must be one with water, so we went to our friend Joy Rochester's house to shower. A can of sparkling water down the gullet transported me to the lake of Crane Prairie. She offered her life force and gifted us a grand view of The Three Sisters. The agar plates containing our previous bio-samples were distributed to become subjects of our microbiology experiment. A surprisingly simple process revealed our gram-negative bacillus-shaped bacteria under the microscope. I wish words could describe the wonder of microbiology, expanding the infinitely finite to a point of distinction and observable preservation. 




Pumice Moonwort


(Graphite drawing of Pumice Moonwort)

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