Monsters and Dust

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Editor's Note

Our fellow artist Erin Foley originally approached Monsters & Dust about providing the cover image for “Firsts,” — the century plant, a species of agave whose first flowering is also its penultimate act. Over time, the illustration gave birth to a fiction piece called Fire Oaths, which we plan to present in a forthcoming issue themed “Flowers.” In the meantime, enjoy the two excerpts and drawing below.

— Aay Preston-Myint

 

Agave americana L. is an ornamental plant of the Agavaceae family native in arid regions of Mexico. The plant is commonly known as the Century Plant because of the length of time it takes to bloom; an average of 10 years in warmer climates and 60 years in colder ones. A large stalk sprouts out of the spreading, aloe-like rosette at the base of the plant. The robust stalks grow up to 25 feet high, stems crawling from the erected shoot and spawning yellow blossoms. The plant spends its whole life and all of its strength to achieve the act of flowering, and then it dies. The first bloom of the century plant is its last, a swansong of sorrowful wonderment that has always fascinated me. My first encounter with a century plant was near West Texas and this is the story of how I ended up there.

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When I reached the former housing units, they were empty and decrepit. Grass flowed like streams through the cracked foundation and the sun poured in through crumbled walls. Even though the buildings were in ruins, the tiny geographies they formed were beautiful to me. I was walking around admiring them when I saw an orange box inside the third building.

I noticed a note on the top as I approached. “To Fred,” it read.