E Pluribus Unum
By Caitlin Hawke
Neighbors, I feel more connected to you than ever. I can barely hear you. Can't see you, except at 7 p.m. when you fling open your sash. But you are beautiful at the top of that hour. And your cri de coeur is mine, too.
I've been thinking about how we got here.
Out of one, many. That's for the pangolin, or whichever creature this zoonotic nightmare leaped forth out of and upended the lives of billions.
Out of many, one. That's for us. U.S. This country, with all its fault lines and political red and blue blocks is, for better or for worse, now 'one' in a way it hasn't been since 9/11. The sooner we embrace that, the stronger we'll emerge from this catastrophe. Roughly a month in, it's not a moment too soon. But it's not just domestic. Our family of man is global. Have you ever felt the purely human connection across borders and societal divides more profoundly? And yet, here we all sit. Alone. Out of many, one.
When we come through to the other side, when we have metabolized how we have behaved, how we were led, for better for worse, who we have lost, and how we'll go on, we had better reckon with the Anthropocene. We're so busy saving ourselves, we've forgotten that the real work ahead is to save our planet.
And if we can do this, surely we can do that.
Neighbors, I feel more connected to you than ever. I can barely hear you. Can't see you, except at 7 p.m. when you fling open your sash. But you are beautiful at the top of that hour. And your cri de coeur is mine, too.
I've been thinking about how we got here.
Out of one, many. That's for the pangolin, or whichever creature this zoonotic nightmare leaped forth out of and upended the lives of billions.
Out of many, one. That's for us. U.S. This country, with all its fault lines and political red and blue blocks is, for better or for worse, now 'one' in a way it hasn't been since 9/11. The sooner we embrace that, the stronger we'll emerge from this catastrophe. Roughly a month in, it's not a moment too soon. But it's not just domestic. Our family of man is global. Have you ever felt the purely human connection across borders and societal divides more profoundly? And yet, here we all sit. Alone. Out of many, one.
When we come through to the other side, when we have metabolized how we have behaved, how we were led, for better for worse, who we have lost, and how we'll go on, we had better reckon with the Anthropocene. We're so busy saving ourselves, we've forgotten that the real work ahead is to save our planet.
And if we can do this, surely we can do that.
Reservoir
by Caitlin Hawke
by Caitlin Hawke
|
Scales of keratin, claws well honed. Searching for ants, by night you roam. O! Manis pentadactyla, How very odd a fact to know That your flesh cures hysteria, Fevers brought of malaria. Medicinal to sapiens Yet viral poison lays within, O! Mighty plated Pangolin What ball you have us crouching in! |
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