H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
GARY LAWLESS
Migrationist
I am in a
cave in southern France, looking at a salmon cut into the cave wall
30,000 years
ago, a male, over one meter long, detailed, the product of an artist
who knew
salmon, who saw them swimming through.
Since 1973 I
have been thinking about the idea of bioregionalism, thinking about
how to learn to
live in a particular place, and how to gradually come to be a part
of that place,
a partner in the natural workings of that place, and to learn to be less
and less
"intrusive", as we humans have a way of being.
As I learn
about my own particular place, living here next to a lake in Maine, I
come to learn
about all of the beings whose lives pass through this place, at one
time of the year
or another. These are the great migratory tribes, and their own
home regions
cover a much wider range than my own. We are coming around to
celebrating these friends.
We welcome
the loons back, the eagles, ospreys, herons, orioles, grosbeaks,
bobolinks and so many more. We watch for turtles in the road. We welcome the
alewives as they arrive to swim from the ocean up into the lake, through a series
of newly built
pools, human-made to assist them in their journey. We look to the
milkweed for monarchs, rising up in the fall for their journey to Mexico. And so
many others.
As a
practicing Caribouddhist I
worry about the caribou, moving from protection
in Canada into
the United States, to calve on the plain of the Arctic National
Wildlife
Refuge, or the reindeer, living with the consequences of nuclear disaster
in their
bodies, or the wolves and condors reintroduced in the American west, the
bears and wolves reintroduced in Italy and Slovenia, my stork friends flying
from
Africa to Latvia, Lithuania, flying through the horror
of war in Iraq twice a year.
And so many others.
As a bioregionalist, I want my own
bioregion to provide these travelers with their
traditional food, lodging and safety - natural concerns for a weary pilgrim, but
now I think that
I must also be a migrationist,
worrying about the health of their
journey, the flyways, the migratory routes, the ocean, the air, so that these
travelers are able to safely make their yearly journeys. My bioregion extends to
the boreal
forests, the south american
songbird destinations, all the many parts of
the world to
which i am connected, my
home place is connected , by these
wonderful migrating friends. and
so many more.
Migration
Prayer
we will greet
them with colorful flags,
wave them on their
way through,
light fires, burn incense,
prepare a feast to say
We wish you
well
pray for your
travels
take care, take
care
June
25, 2009
[First posted by Gary
Lawless at his mygrations blog, http://mygrations.blogspot.com/2009/06/abri-du-poisson.html.
Reprinted with permission of the author.
Originally published in NHS 2010, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs10/index.html.]