"Seeking Wisdom in Strange Places" by Richard F. Yates

"Ink on reclaimed cardboard with digital embellishments and colors," said the monster with two heads and four wings. Nobody knew quite why he'd said that.

The Sky Snake stuck her head out of the clouds to look one of the two headed monster's heads directly in the eye, and then hissed (with delight or derangement, we can't be certain...)

"I wonder what it tastes like," said Herko, the creature whose mouth was bigger than his brain, while looking directly at the zombie-man in the hat.

The Sun just squinted down (or over---it's hard to tell) at them all but refused to speak. (Maybe he had nothing to say, or---perhaps---he was just being polite. If you can't say nuthin' nice...)

The Totem-Cliff's various mouths were all talking at once, unintelligibly, and the flowers whispered to each other in quiet, little flowery voices, but the zombie-man couldn't tell what any of them were saying. (The flowers were laughing a bit too much, though, so he knew, whatever they were discussing, it wasn't good. "Conspiratorial" would be one adjective that would accurately describe their tone...)

"The next time I try to reach enlightenment on the top of a mountain," Orion, the half-zombie, thought to himself as he adjusted his hat, "I'll try to find a less crowded one."

"A moment of wisdom," the Sun thought back into Orion's head. "You're learning. Solitude is best experienced alone..." Orion looked (almost) directly at the Sun. It winked.

The flowers laughed a bit more---but Orion didn't know if they were laughing at the Sun's joke or something that they had said to one another. Regardless, he felt his time on the mountain had been educational.... Now if he could just survive the descent...

---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool---and perpetual hat wearer)