what the birds help me to remember

how i have learned 

through watching 

and being with 

the birds 

how man 

hu-man 

has lost his 

gentleness 

with which to 

touch , the Other 

beings of this world 

now, 

when i go outside 

my natural tendency 

is to initiate 

a bird plow

and i must 

bend that back 

remember a time when 

i walked so softly 

upon the earth

every step, 

was a prayer 

*

i used pronouns for a man in this poem because i feel it is especially the wounding found within the societally constructed archetype of masculinity (that can be found in any/all genders) that is needing to be held accountable right now for the suffering and oppressions we see in the world today. i say this with awareness that every archetypal structure that modern, dominant, oppressive culture has created and runs upon needs to be taken down and re-configured (through poetry, through the body, through the voices that have been silenced). in writing this poem i distinctly *felt* to use he, which instead of an unconscious decision to conform to current power structures, feels more of a consciously chosen movement that points to calling out the `he` (and all that he comes with) in all of us.