
IN THE FIELD WITH MY ZEN
In The Field With My Zen
by Ariane Blackman
Field music of murmurings
just past what we are sure
and yet so ignorant
of anything but ours
of even the plants’ purpose—
opening, following light
sensile roots
rhizome to rhizome
and through electric air
spelling out—danger! Now!
Plant and predator
intertwined
in dance, a net
a who gets who first
a weighing in
beyond—
we think we own it all
Then in the morning
trees breath
and birds sing to the dawn
spiders, hawks and big cats
mark their prey—
nature may be cruel
but listen to the yipping of
the prairie dogs—
a signal for man walking
a different one
for man walking in field with gun
