We Know the Rule by Helen Jingshu Yao. [A response to the There's No Place Like Rhizome Writing Prompt.]

Calculating the distance.

We know the rule. The rule is that every one of us have to maintain a distance, otherwise nothing makes sense. You will absolutely be confused by thissenetencewherenospaceisplacedbetweeneachwords. Us, the words, the fundamental elements of communication were not allow to communicate with each other. Of course, I know my distant relatives' Chinese scripts and Inuit orthography were less isolated like each one of us but there’s still distance between syllables, morphemes, words, phases, sentences, paragraphs. Each stream of thoughts, every moment of articulation set their boundaries from one another. We know, through the nature of ourselves, that communication will always fail because you are mean to create distance when you talk. We are in isolation, so are you.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE RHIZOME (writing prompt response) by Noah Farberman

     

    "That bear is not wearing any pants" said the tree that never made a sound. The tree had fallen three months earlier, cracked by its own weight and thrust aside by a root hidden six feet below. From under its belly it could feel all it crushed. From under its belly it could feel all it crushed start to rise, digging not out but up, tearing open the tree’s underbelly or back with slow mite. Termite. The tree that no one heard make a sound no one heard wail. No one heard it scream or yell. No one heard it fade to sleep through whimpers like a six-year-old with migraines who needs to stop eating so many Tylenols. The tree that never made a sound spoke thus “thanks for nothing, grass. Thanks for nothing, sky. Thanks for nothing, birds, and you’re welcome by the way. Thanks for nothing, carbon monoxide. Thanks for nothing, rocks and fungus. Thanks for nothing, Nature and all of its mothers.” The bear took a squat on the mouth of the tree and shat until the hole was full. The silent tree gurgled and drowned.
     “Oh bother” the bear spoke, “the lesson here is that ignoring is never the answer.”

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for the writing prompt, see the Writing Prompt page.