A Modern-Day Phantasmagoria

On a corner of sidewalk, almost unnoticed, pretty pink flower petals are gathered and seemingly arranged, out of ritual or out of necessity, to disguise the scent of decomposition. Workers tend to the collection of organic material, piling and collaging into place what appears to be a shrine or deathbed, a garbage heap or food stores. Theories abound. People comment and wonder, “Do ants have funerals?”