Let Us Now Speak of
Extinction
Michael C. Keith
Copyright © 2018
Michael C. Keith
MadHat Press
Asheville, NC
231 pages, $21.95,
softbound
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
Flash
fiction, micro fiction, prose poetry. Whatever you choose to call it,
Michael. C. Keith’s Let Us Now Speak of
Extinction is 231 pages of pure enjoyment.
His stories, many of which are just a few lines and others less than
one page, encompass many scenarios a number of them with ironically
humorous endings and titles that he has obviously spent time
creating.
In
“Adjusting One’s Priorities” Keith keys in on the self-absorbed
viewer of a tragedy: "Frank saw a small plane flip and fall to to earth. He
had five minutes left of his lunch hour and still had not eaten his dessert. What should I do?
he wondered."
Keith
also has a jaundiced eye when writing about old age and its optimism
versus its fears. While everyone is doomed to extinction, in “You
Bet Your Life” it is not about the Groucho Marx television show of
the 1950s but rather a future which Keith sees as a possibility. The
story is a cousin to a story which was later made into a movie called
“The Four Feathers.”
"Six old
friends got together and decided to wager on whom among
them would live the longest. Each would put five dollars
into the hat each week, and the last person standing would
win. Since they all were only in their early 70s, they felt the pot could end up being quite substantial, and
that’s what spurred them on -- that and the fact that each
septuagenarian felt he was in better shape than the others. The first member of the group passed away after five years, and over
the next dozen years, everyone else in the pool had expired, except one.Unfortunately, he could neither stand up nor recall anything about the bet."
As one
can see just by these two stories, Keith casts a sarcastic eye on
people, his view being that no one is really on the positive side of
life’s ledger. In the first story Frank could be anywhere from his
twenties to his fifties and not only more interested in his food but
sees little interest in reporting a tragedy and possibly saving
lives.
The
second story paints a bleak look at what all humans face – a future
that ends with little hope as death is final outcome for all living
things. That theme figures perfectly into Keith’s title about
extinctions.
Speaking
of extinction, in “Cotillion of the Fittest” Keith sees the end
of humanity as follows:It
wasn’t three days after the last human died that the cockroaches
and rats held a dance. Although
he does not tell us why all of humanity has passed into extinction,
we learn that two of our most feared creatures on earth, cockroaches
and rats have survived and are holding a celebratory dance to
acknowledge their inheritance of the planet, or perhaps just simple
happiness as not being killed anymore by the top animal kingdom.
Another
of Keith’s likes is food, often the sweet. In “Profound
Discourse At A Dunkin” he explains the importance of a sweet
something to a discussion of human existence:
“When
contemplating the nature of human existence, it’s very
easy to reach the conclusion that the whole thing is a cruel
absurdity,” said Gill.'Oh,
jees, fellas, Gill is getting all existential on us. What do you expect us to do with that information?' replied
Doug, winking at fellow members of the Somerville Old Farts Breakfast Club. 'Well,' answered Gill, 'You could add meaning
to my life by buying me another Vanilla Frosted with Sprinkles.'"
Despite
what often seems like a negative spin, Michael Keith’s Let
Us Now Speak of Extinction is comedic take
on like, death and everything in between. It is a book one fights
with one’s self not to put down because what is on the next page
might (an often is) more entertaining than the page just finished.
Get yourself a copy and enjoy more than 200 pages of pure
entertainment.
