INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Chris Lord
Joseph McNair
Karyn M. Wolven
Geoffrey Philp
Paul B. Roth
Duane Locke
Silvia Scheibli
Shutta Crum
Felino Soriano
Steve Beaulieu
Donald Hewlett
Alan Britt
Joanie Freeman
Mervyn M. Solomon
Jerry Blanton
Marilyn Churchill
Running Cub
Mukul Dahal
Alice Paris
Helen
Losse
Fred Wolven
Waking in the middle of my dream
I try to stand but find being upright suddenly
is a difficult task.
Recalling the strenuous nature of things
in the morning,
walking across campus I am distracted
by a line of ants moving slowly
across the cement walk,
across my pathway.
So, I pause and become silent observer
of their trek, of their movement.
Ants are clean creatures--
they cart away carcasses
of overwhelmed prey.
If only we humans would learn
from nature's insects and animals,
we might take a lesson or two
from the smallest ant or tiny hummingbird.
Ah, we last less always, or so it seems,
less than our environment's friends--
big and small, gator or wasp, squirrel or bear,
able, as we are to be,
only to tramp down, walk on,
smoke out, and park on
most of the Rhode Island postage stamp-size
green primitive lands still unsoiled,
still green in spite of civilization.
When I came down from the mountain hike
I came down out of silence and solitude
wanting to take a closer look,
be the undisturbing observer,
become the noiseless interloper,
somehow, for the moment,
nearly one with these ants,
with these dainty creatures.
Fred Wolven, Homestead, Florida