Who are we
to deem You
invasive?
We, the humans who
don’t restrain ourselves
overstep every ecosystem
to satisfy whim
restrain You from inhabiting a wood.
We, who
trash handy plantain, dandelion, purslane
trash intact habitat
for junk food and trash
trash Your berries as junk.
Who
carpet creation with concrete
choke green photosynthesis with grey paralysis
to outspread our paths and palaces
fear Your presence as aggressive.
Humans who
through scientific prowess
menace kith and kin
with extinction
extinguish Your migration.
We, the humans who
hack the yielding hips of Earth
explode Her breasts mine Her arteries
for our addictions
stymie Your vining through poison munitions.
Who we are
cannot fathom
what Earth is unfurling.
May be
Honeysuckle
to reflect upon.
Honeysuckle
emissaries on
reconnaissance.
May be
Honeysuckle
are decomposing
this
Now.
Maybe
Earth wants
Her biome
we call home
to become
fallow
for
what
may
follow
I think I understand the point, but even the word fallow is from a misunderstanding of natural systems, an anthropomorphized notion that if something isn't growing on soil that the soil is resting. That's a very misleading idea of how the flow of energy in nature works. If "we" is a term for all humans it makes the assumption that all humans are alike and all humans are bad.
ReplyDeleteIf we can understand that Europeans of the time who were circumnavigating the planet were the reason so many people in the South Pacific and other places died of small pox, syphilis, etc died from those invasive diseases, then how is spreading an invasive plant that kills off and/or prevents the growth of indigenous plant ok?
Thank you for reading and taking the time to respond. It's useful to see how something one writes lands with other people. I'm curious to know what point you thought I was making in the poem.
DeleteI've had these thoughts (well, not so eloquently as you put them here) while cutting back the honeysuckle on the fences I share with my neighbors. But I liken it more to a hair cut than an eradication because I don't use pesticides, just trimmers mostly. My neighbor tried using a high-grade vinegar which did nothing to kill the vine and also seemed not to destroy much else growing on the fence. Nature does indeed find a way so I don't mind the trimming when it gets in my vegetable garden. :) Thank you for sharing... I love your musings.
ReplyDeleteHi Angie. Thanks for reading and for sharing your experience. As I deconstruct my internalized supremacy, I find myself having this sort of allergic reaction to the term, 'invasive,' particularly when the people using it are those who are descendants of settler colonists and benefit from invasive industries all over the world. But more importantly, who knows why the Divine Mother/Mother Nature has sent honeysuckle. Can we humble ourselves enough to be curious about its abundance rather than dismissive?
Deletethis one is difficult Mary. in my mind,honeysuckle is simply green, sweet smelling, concrete. mother nature did not bring asian honeysuckle here, humans did. mother nature provided native honeysuckles which provide appropriate sustenance for the creatures we so often make homeless and foodless via bulldozers for ever more human space. the asian honeysuckle does not provide the appropriate nutrition to consumers thereof for them to survive the struggle of winter. it is in effect junk food for the creatures we are usurping. technically the term invasive applies to plants which harm the ecosystem, the same way that settler colonists harmed. (btw, those of us fighting invasive plant species have no control over whom our ancestors were) we are trying to protect the indigenous species which are being destroyed by human actions. not because the alien is inherently bad, but because THIS alien is destructive, stealing the space of indigenous species in much the same way as colonists stole. some of us descendants are trying to make amends, protect, replace,that which our ancestors destroyed or stole.
ReplyDelete