As an artist and nature journalist, I often write poetry in my nature journals as another way to connect humanity with nature. This poem about conservation here below was on exhibition in New York for the Creature Conserve Reimagining Conservation show in 2023. Enjoy!
Tension
Some call it balance.
That’s not a word for us.
Balance breathes of a scale
where one extra trace of me, of you,
of any other species,
can be added to level out life . . .
Where we are pieced
like a crazy patchwork quilt
where any piece might do
to warm the world.
Balance is not the word for us.
Tension is what we are,
what connects us.
Swaddled together between life and extinction
each one reliant on the other,
each one the fiber necessary for the whole . . .
not holding hands and singing sweet tunes
where any voice can take one’s place . . .
rather, drumming in a beautiful terrible chorus
that resonates our communal success
. . . or expiration.
Tension is the word for us
unfolding how each one provides,
reflecting our bond.
One of us, predator,
might kill the other, prey.
Our word is tension.
Our truth is tension.
If you don’t survive
then I can’t endure.
