Field guide No. 632
Cactus sheds its translucent skin
Moulting season, desert edition.
In red desert soil at dusk, a green cactus sits beside a clear, wrinkled skin in its exact shape, spines and all, that it has just crawled out of. It looks much fresher for it.
Field noteSnakes slough their skins. A cactus has shed its own like one, ribs and spines kept in clear papery husk.
Also possible, also breaking category
Hot departureFuselages come in stranger shapes. Few are grown, and fewer are this hot.
White dandelion plume above rust-red lavaVolcanoes throw ash. Seeds are a meadow’s output, delivered by the wrong mountain.
Crust out of officeTwo loaves sit apart on a flour-dusted counter. One crust is handling correspondence.
The zipper that bitesThe jacket is frayed by round bites beside a zipper. A zip with teeth is a pun, and the pun holds together.