If only I could hold them for a thousand years
I would let the beetles crawl in my open palms
as if wandering through bowed lotus petals,
porcelain wings clapping – we are not afraid.
I would let their storm-slicked shells peck at my porous skin,
enchanted by the scent of pomegranate and honey –
I’m sorry evaporates from each leaf finger,
encouraging them to dance, continue searching
for one speck of pollen.
If only their eyes remained distracted, they could
keep filling their mottled bellies and I would
let my body turn to stone.
Cross Pollination by Kate MacDowell (ceramic)
The collision between people and the world…..
Environmental writing asks searching questions about the collision between people and the world. (Bill McKibben, Ed. (2008) American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau; Library of America; New York, New York.)
