Quit trying to domesticate me. I did not ask to be tamed To spend my life trapped in tidy boxes formed from trees straightened into 2 x 4s To be towered over by pillars of metal and concrete To travel on steel wheels that move so fast I cannot see the ground beneath my feet, I did not ask for this surround sound of cars, planes, and machines whirring, Or to be imposed on by a ticking clock demanding an account for every minute Or the black faces of screens waiting for me to ask to be entertained or informed Glowing with the blue light of their answers (the screens I am sitting with even as I write these words), I do not want to eat food that has forgotten what it is supposed to taste like or every harvest to be cleanly plucked from a shelf, I do not want to cover my body with The things that will hide my gross humanity To wear clothes that shed microplastic beads everywhere I go, I did not ask for all my paths to be straightened and flattened And made easy I did not ask to come out at the end of this journey clean. I am bewildered by how we got here, Let me be wilder. Let me wander on the uneven, meandering path Struggling up the mountain one steady step at a time Sliding down the muddy creek bank On the pathless path that takes me past trees that are old friends Trees bent and twisted by the process of living, Let me stare at the horizon’s soft unpredictable lines My face glowing golden in the light of the sun, Let me sleep deep in a cove where the horizon towers above me And I am sheltered from this domesticated world And the sun rises late and sets early, Let me be informed by the light of the sun and the steady cycle of seasons, Let me taste the warm sweetness of a sun-ripened blackberry And let my blood ooze from the scratches of the thorns as I reach in for each precious packet, Let me fall asleep to the sound of white water, not white noise Let me shed my clothes and be in my animal body To plunge my warmth in the icy waters, Let me admire my body for the strength of my muscles, not the smoothness of them Let the blood rise in my alerted veins As I join the ancient call of the coyote startling the black night.
You constantly amaze me how you put our deepest yearnings into words! Searingly beautiful!
powerful, Tricia!