I wrote numerous poems in November. None are ready and many are not shareable. But they prepared me for the one I am sharing here.
We think of ourselves as the humans who have control over the world around us, who are self-sufficient, who know almost everything. But between the pandemic and climate disruption, those illusions are crumbling. We are not okay as we are.
We can learn much from the beings who share this earth with us. More than we think. Not all learning comes through thinking.
All over the world, humans are longing for full vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, yet filled with uncertainty. We cannot wait for someone else to fix this. We need to listen to the pangolin, the mink, and all the other beings. The vaccines might stop the virus, but only our connections with Mother Earth and her creatures can bring true healing.
The pandemic has taught me we can't turn away, we can't pretend bad things aren't happening. And even when we can't be near each other, we have to be connected somehow. The poems I wrote recently taught me a lot about learning from other creatures, plant and animal. Consider the mink. We can’t pretend minks are just cute little creatures and ignore the lives many of them have led. Despite the heart-breaking reality of caged creatures, we can learn from them.
A spoken version of this poem is available on Soundcloud, click here.
Unbound Soul: A Story of Mink
Mother mink darts through the water
Sure strokes propel her
She grabs a fish between her jaws
Returns to her nest
Deposits the fish
In front of hungry little minks
Too young to get their own
Mink on the farm
Lies down in her cage
Stares through the wires
No where to go
No river or trees or mud
She gets up
Walks front to back
Back to front
Lies down again
She knows she does not belong
In this world of cages
Imprisoned for the crimes
Of those who claim
Dominion
The farmer approaches
Mask over his mouth and nose
Thick gloves on his hands
He opens the cage, reaches in
Grabs her in two strong unyielding hands
She snarls, bites at his gloves
Squirms with her under-developed muscles
This is all wrong
She needs to be free
To touch the ground
Swim in the water
She drops into a dark place
Feels the other minks
Snarls her uncertainty
Teeth of another sink into her
She scrambles, climbs, reaches
Seeking a way out
She learns quickly
This is another cage
Just dark and full of bodies
She lies still
In a press of bodies
But then the air changes
She can’t breathe
Once again she must fight
This place is too dangerous
She reaches and scratches
Seeking a grip
Her body weakens
Her reach shortens
Till she falls back
Shakes and convulses
Until finally her last breath
Sets her soul free
To heal
The farmer retrieves bodies from the gas chamber
He shakes his head
Wonders how he will make a profit
These mink are infected
Even now he might have the disease
All these wasted fur bodies
He throws into a sealed container
For safe disposal
Mother mink climbs out of the river
Fish firmly clenched in her jaws
Shakes the water off her fur
Walks back to her nest
A shadow passes over her
She digs her claws into the earth
In a burst of speed
Bounds away
Eagle’s talons dig into mud
Its meal out of reach
Mother safely in the nest
Mother mink trembles
As adrenalin courses through her body
She nestles with her young
Back pressed into the earth
The smell of earth, fish, water, minks
Fills her nostrils
Deep into her lungs
She pulls in life-giving oxygen
The same air you breathe
And I breathe
One with Earth
With other beings
Even the hungry eagle
She is calm
The soul of the farmed mink
Now free
Knows Mother Mink
Knows you and me
Your dear departed ones
Free of the caged body
Unbound
The soul knows no separation
If you are looking for my short novel, A Matter of the Soul, click here