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The weaver bird builds its nest with a false entrance to fool predators, especially the snakes that seek to devour eggs and chicks. My first instinct is to see the weaver bird as an example of why evolution is beautiful. But then I think about the newborn antelope that sometimes imprint on the lion that just killed their mother. I've seen the videos of those baby antelope hungrily and cluelessly nuzzling the lions that have mother blood drenching their faces and fangs. Evolution is also cruel and violent. And I sigh at my silly need to wish that lions would sometimes adopt the newborn antelope instead of eating them. Ah, we humans so often behave like the snakes and lions but we're also capable of startling empathy. I remember when my eight-year-old little brother wept over a dead fly on the windowsill. "Hey, little man," I said. "You have such a good heart." And he looked me in the eyes and asked, "Why does everything hurt so much?"
Thank you.
Certain poems set my soul off in multiple directions. Could write a long high-school English paper on this one.
When you mentioned the extremes of beautiful and not beautiful, perhaps one can imagine them as poles of a dialectic; embracing both poles lets us feel where our center is.
Thank you
This is powerful.
You write a poem like this that echos William Blake’s “The Tyger” but sounds so original and fresh. You’re something!
I am thrilled to have just bought 2 of your books that include poetry: One Stick Song & Face. Looking forward to reading through them as your poems are so good.
Is this one a new poem?