no copyright infringement intended
- just admiration
They say there are no perfect conditions,
just carry on anyway, don't wait
for a more auspicious time.
Perhaps this imperfection, and
our rising to meet it
is the perfect time:
this moment, right now
is what we have.
Show up in this noisy, half-crazed
world, gently, the way
the morning light
rises up over the mountains.
Show up for whatever comes
your way. It may be bad news.
It may be a walk along the shore.
It may be the spooky light-blue eyes
of a goofy laughing dog
who loves you, who cavorts with
silly pleasure when he spies you
through your window.
It is possible that this poem
is a practice. How surrendered,
how accepting, can I be?
How well can I carry
this earth grief / this earth joy
in the same moment?
The poet said "show me
the wild animal that you hide,"
and here he is, Wolf, howling
in the forest, which is falling
all around him. Here he is,
trying to save his pack
from human predators.
Here he is, howling my grief
and my outrage that his home
- and our home - so beautiful,
so breathtaking - is being
carved into bleeding
ravaged pieces so corporations
can grow rich.
Day 8
Inspired by Holy Humanness by Olivia Cooper. The italicized line is hers.
I just sent letters to the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, and all appropriate BC government ministers, about the need to stop the logging of old growth. The crazy thing is that the BC government in 2020 issued a report calling for a halt to logging of old growth - and yet Fairy Creek is to be logged - thousand year old trees, so rare and endangered on the planet.
It feels like a losing battle. But also feels good to do something. Some of us are asking the UN person to let BC know it is being seen internationally and is operating against the UN's values and goals. Worth a try.
Will share this with earthweal's open link.
If the UN were empowered to function as global government, or even imagined it were, then, when the UN decided it needed money more than forests, to whom would there be any appeal?
ReplyDeleteA global government would be not less, but more, corruptible than any national or local government.
Another very poignant poem, Sherry. It is not only wolves that howl....humans definitely have good reason. I am glad you are taking action.
ReplyDeleteI share every bit of your rage ...... every bit!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you took that Olivia Cooper line and let it blossom into a poem that faces world problems head on, Sherry, and challenges everyone to do the same at the perfect time, but gently, ‘the way / the morning light / rises up over the mountains’ – the best way to do anything. I love the shift in the poem that reveals the wolf, ‘howling / in the forest, which is falling / all around him’, a symbol for all creatures that are losing their natural homes.
ReplyDeleteI pray that your letters get a positive reaction from the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme and BC government ministers, and that the logging of old growth at Fairy Creek is stopped.
Excellent work Sherry, both the poem and your taking action. Apathy is not an option right now - keep fighting!
ReplyDeleteI'll try a third time at this comment -- to me this poem is about what it means to accept in an earth-sense -- with all the rage and grief intact. And then, poem done, boots on the ground writing letters for old growth. You go girl.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to read of these developments at Fairy Creek. I share your grief.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand why a rich country like Canada needs to log ancient trees! So sad and awful. I have roamed under the huge tress of Vancouver Island, and treasure them...
ReplyDeleteYes, worth a try. We do what we can do. You've expressed wonderfully how to live, the only way we can live, in this world.
ReplyDelete