state natural area poems, supplementum anthropocenum #1, a & b

a.

stinkhorns, you’ve taken

all we’ve thrown your way

disturbance a way of life

b.

primrose blankets the broken ground

wort-wisdom making virtue

geese along the evening’s river

this new supplemental subgrouping of sna poems, the “supplementum anthropocenum” will showcase occasional moments of exceptional, natural rupture in the urban and other built environments.

in one of my seminars this term, my students and i are talking about how ‘nature’ isn’t ‘out there.’ (and the troubles that arise from the view that it is.) thought i should start taking it seriously in this series too.

here, a patch of stinkhorns continues to work down the wood chips in a median strip heading into downtown milwaukee (it fruits a few times a year), while a vigorous stand of evening primrose beautifies an abandoned lot on the city’s lower east side. how is this not ‘nature’?

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