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Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Walking in Earth Shoes


Warren Rudd photo

Walking in earth shoes, I do not have to
venture far to feel Mother Earth's unease:

breathing smoke from the wildfires
feeling the grass crackle underfoot
noting the parched soil under the thirsty trees

I perform a water ceremony under the wilted rhodo,
its leaves all pointed downward, reaching for
moisture no longer there. Drops from
the watering can fall on the thirsty roots
like tears. We have been on water restriction 
since early May. We are watching so much
shriveling and dying.

please hold on till the rains come, we whisper

but we can't promise rain will come.
It is still warm and sunny in November.
Along the forest trail, huge swathes
of ancient cedar are gone, tall wooden walls
of housing rising on their graves.
Along the roadway, stumps are shoved
back into what's left; some trees turned into
ten foot trunks, with token fringe,
topped and limbed to make way
for new hydro lines above.

They call it Progress, but why so savage?
The neighbouring trees, thin and exposed,
dusty and wondering if they come next -
I feel their pain.

But, still, there is so much beauty everywhere.
I marvel: blue skies, waves
surging endlessly in to shore, 
a new baby orca with its mama, passing by.

Hard to know that, under this same sky,

climate refugees are on the move;
and now civilians, caught in the latest war,
mourn their loved ones, sobbing and desperate,
on our tv screens. We have not learned
to live together peacefully on this earth,
seeing "Other" instead of "Us".
Why is that so hard, when we all have
beating hearts that love to live?

So hard to watch oblivious First World ways
continue as if all is well;
so much denial, and entitlement:
annoyance at traffic interruptions -
the "inconvenience" of
forests aflame, that closed the roads
and stopped our frantic rushing
to and fro. Denial that the cost 
of capitalism is coming due.

The planet turns and burns,
and countries bomb each other.
It is grievous to have a human heart
in a world at war, where
people have forgotten that
the natural world is dying, too.

I put my earth shoes on,
find a green space in which to feel
mixed gratitude (for all that is)
and grief (for all we've lost
and are so swiftly losing.)
Is there a green space big enough
for this much sorrow?
Stay tuned.
I'll put my Earth Shoes on,
and try again
tomorrow.

 

for my prompt at What's Going On? Walking in Earth Shoes, which will post at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

I wrote this poem in summer when the fires were burning all over the province. Some are still burning, but the situation has impoved greatly. The fall rains  have just begun. I updated the poem to include this latest terrible war - so much suffering and death. My heart is having trouble holding all of it. Thank heaven for the forest and the beach! They save me. And they are asking us to save them in return.  Peace and light, my friends, our antidote in dark times.

13 comments:

  1. Sherry, you have expressed so much feeling in this poem. Indeed Mother Earth must feel unease.
    "I put my earth shoes on,
    find a green space in which to feel
    mixed gratitude (for all that is)
    and grief (for all we've lost " Just a small patch of earth, and on it we can feel so much! Seems nowadays gratitude and grief go hand in hand.

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  2. It's so tragic to live in a time when water has a teary face. Amidst all these isn't it pure happiness to see "a new baby orca with its mama, passing by" ? This joyful picture also brings to my mind of Tahlequah the orca.

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  3. "under this same sky"
    We hurt with our friends, even those we have not met yet, even especially the non-human friends. And we admire with them too. O, Sherry, no one captures the times as well as you. I love this poem, the entwining of voices, the rhythm of love and sorrow.

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  4. Is there a green space big enough
    for this much sorrow? - that line broke me... where do we take our concerns about climate and war...? It just feels helpless and hopeless at times. I wish I could write to this prompt but all I can think of are retreating glaciers and tipping points.

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  5. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we all walked in Earth shoes, Sherry? I wasn’t aware that there were still fires burning – lets hope the rain puts them out. I agree about the forest and the beach. I like the sound of ‘feeling the grass crackle underfoot’ and the image of ‘a new baby orca with its mama, passing by’. But oh, how I feel for the ‘huge swathes of ancient cedar’, the stumps and ‘trees turned into ten foot trunks… to make way for new hydro lines’; and for the climate refugees and people caught up in wars.

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  6. the phrase, the image the action of putting on one's Earth shoes of connecting, revering, grieving for and immersing oneself is superb!

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  7. I think we need to put on our earth shoes so we can truly feel the earth beneath us. To know its beauty and pain. I question all the destruction but, I cling to each small wonder I see.

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  8. Walking in earth shoes... what a brilliant concept. Literally, feeling grounded. Your answers to the thoughts helped bring perspective. We in Wisconsin coughed with you when the wildfire fallout reached us. And yes, the climate is going to hell, but I recently read a comment by Maya Angelou, "Every storm runs out of rain." And so we pray it is with this storm of climate catastrophe? But the storm keeps on coming... Your words remind me that all is not lost. Love you, Sherry, and thanks again.

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  9. Sherry,
    We have had such devastating experience throughout the world, especially this year, as a result of dreadful climatic changes.
    It's very frustrating to find that making real, positive and prompt changes are taking so long to deliver an effective way of responding to the situation.
    World leaders busy themselves with all other kinds of business, while floods, drought and wildfires rage.
    It's good that those with hearts, still care. They can feel the empathy from nature's cry...

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  10. You've inspired me to imagine wearing shoes of soil, moss, & wriggling worms. Now will everyone please drive less and idle not at all?

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  11. You have poured your heart out. There are so many things atm which hurt and where does it end? To be honest I don't have that high hopes for humanity as I think capitalism is stronger than mother earth. Mother earth fights back but she needs our help

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  12. Your poem expresses the strange contrast between the beauty and peace of nature and the rude and callous way we have treated her well here. Suzanne - Wordpress blog - Wayfaring

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  13. Sherry I love that you still find they way to try again tomorrow. So many human beings, and only so much food and water to go around…. Sometimes it seems that this world is just a pile of hardships designed to see just how big love can be.
    -Eric Erb

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