Poetry and Art

Above All Else

by Christina Wulf

Above all else,

we are a community of friendship.

Mellow & pliable, friendship can

escape categories & fow

between all our separations–

age and gender, race and nation,

religion, species, soil, source–

safely

respectfully

with no expectation of reciprocity

but with a powerful hope for joy.

As a methodology of being together,

the rules of friendship

are the simplest of rules:

to respect one another — body and soul,

the integrity of spirit and skin —

to honor each other as beings, alive on the planet,

to listen and truly hear,

to laugh.

Friendship is openness to the unknown

and at the same time, a mirror,

a location to extend and enact our best selves

and learn how to be better.

With its equity and simplicity,

friendship can heal:

individuals, communities, societies.

It binds and drives our Circle.

It is our best hope.

 

Daybreak

by Tabitha Tripp

Earthen felds of meadows and brush

dissolved into the morning western sky

underneath the dense fog

while frst light, pinkish gold, crept over

and kissed tops of summer trees

Sun still hidden behind

the hill and thick tree trunks

For one brief moment after waking

I thought I had left the earth

peaceful

fnally released from the burden of being human

7am

Machines have begun their compulsory grind on the land

howling sounds in the distance of the dew soaked felds

Back up beeper haunts a distant echo

Tires churning downhill on the interstate

constant whirring of rubber on concrete

moving rigs to the newest sweet spot

capitalism and progress drown the fnches chirping

Silenced the Ladderback woodpecker’s

territorial call over the peanut suet

I want to fy above

see the land these machines devour daily

No, I don’t

My heart won’t take birds-eye view of

fracturing of another ecosystem

shattered wildlife, broken network of trees

and woodland life into checkerboard patterns

of frack pads, roads and pipelines