another matter altogether

"Maria Sibylla Merian's paintings are another matter altogether.
Her lines are as crisp as Marrel's are muted;
She draws with the clinical precision of Durer or Hofenagel,
but at the same time her saturated colors collide in daring,
almost fluorescent contrasts.

Rather than showing animal & vegetable
@ some celestially perfect moment,
she combines the different stages
of growth and decay,
collapsing
an expanse of time
into a single image.

Her flowers will appear
on the same branch as buds,
as new blossoms, full-blown, withered, gone to fruit.
Leaves sprout, flourish, go brown, die, and drop,
many of them half eaten by caterpillars.

The insects, too, are shown as they pass
through every stage
of their strange
cyclical lives.

Like Caravaggio before her,
she registers
the passage of time
by documenting several of its phases,
calling attention
to the immanent imperfection
of it all."

found poem in NY Review of Books
review by Ingrid D. Rowland

3 basic principles

3 basic principles
3 wheels that reverse
peace ecology children
lift the curse

waging peace
we face the present
put the power tribes
to rest

ecological balance
slows us up
& increases
zest

children's joy
followed closely
7th generation
blesst

maria sibylla merian's paintings

"she registers the passage of time
by documenting several of its phases,
calling attention to the immanent
imperfection of it all."

you won't see the colors here
smell the flowers
feel Nature's transience
smell the tropic funk

virtual reality
a pile of junk

last night, seeing so many young people at a nagasaki vigil in winsted
last friday, making danceable music with children in falls village
each day, feeling deep connections possible across the generations
maybe, just maybe, we're moving past all the plunder and pillage

frequent vigils frequent dances affirming minute particulars of life
lighting candles putting words in phrases for peace, a continuing delight
tax resisters invited to amazing planet! farm & justice center in vermont
creating solutions to real problems is never fight and rarely flight

justice or just is

truth & justice peace & justice keep them in mind daily
not too much to ask that all life forms be treated fairly

each extinction poses a risk that no scientist can describe
which entities in the web of life are the ones keeping us alive

certainly each tree assists us keeping air cool and breathable
ask local sprites before taking one down -- is this feasible

wrote my congressperson

spell the name of the possible war crime twice
Dasht-e-Leili Dasht-e-Leili
like the names of leading hutu genocidaires
the horror of mass murder keeps me from memorizing
i seek no mnemonic device

how about 'my hopes were Dasht'?
is 'e-Leili' the prayer of the suffocated?

the tiv of nigeria taught me
a poet is a conscience of the lineage

a biocentric sonnet

what little song might i sing today
each ikarian green cooked a different way
@merican @anarchists find nutrition & homes
we walk the road singing - sambas and sons

samba & son, bembe stone to the bone
intensify trust - drop computer - use phone
rains & mists give us greens galore
boil them up and save some trips to the store

and what 's more -- this generalizes to the world
answers the questions of every flag unfurled

g.i.m.b.y. these greens, nettles, vleeta, and horta
go and gather them up, spring, summer and fall

find a healthier, happier response to the call
long live Nature, starve the dismal mall