Animal Empathy ~ The Empathy Animal

   

Animal Empathy

an animal antiphon
assimilated aborigines

we are Antaeus
earth our arboretum

it is not a matter of thinking
it begins here: we band

together, a braid
of betrothal and betrayal

the human biography
curators of creation

we cannot continue
to consume without consequence

sinking deep into demise
we must listen, we must hear

the descant of the Dervish
or die with the devils

of our own nature
this, our dilemma

discipline, or distress
feel the drumming

the ebb, the elapse
of human dynasty

we are the element
of our own extinction

or we embark on a voyage
of enlightened empathy

  

  

The Empathy Animal

we claim that empathy
emanates from the human brain

that elegant and enigmatic organ
that distinguishes us from our cousins

the ground of our disposition
or perhaps of our self-deception

we consecrate our deviation
in this dialectic with our kin

from the time we left our caves
we have blamed on them our carnal selves

we say the beast in us is base
a barb in the flesh of all that's best

but it's our apish arrogance
that divides us from the rest

  

    read write prompt #84: fun with the dictionary

    Totally Optional Prompt: Spontaneity/Planning

Again, the two prompts work together. Usually I think and/or write and then work with what comes. This time I followed the guidance in Matthea Harvey's essay “Don Dada On The Down Low Getting Godly In His Game: Between and Beyond Play and Prayer in the Abecedarius”, working through the dictionary from animal to empathy and back again.

This exercise seems to have elicited my expository self. Not a strong suit for me, I think.

[Thursday morning: a bit of slight editing]

Comments

[Deb]

Oh, it may feel an odd side of you, but the pair works so well together. I like the diptych as a whole, even the exposition. (The second is my favorite, though.)

[Stan Ski]

A great study of the human condition.

[Nathan]

I love the way you made this into a diptych. I think it's masterful that you make the end of the second poem take us back thematically to the beginning of the first piece.

[Dave Jarecki]

Great fun with these two poems. Amazing music mixed with thought provocation. I especially love,

"we must hear
the descant of the Dervish
or die with the devils"

[Derrick]

Like you, I worked to then fro but quite so eloquently. I also favour the second part, just a little over the first.

[Derrick]

Oops! NOT quite so eloquently, I meant!

[gautami tripathy]

Awesome words you used seamlessly!

love dances from a to z

[sbpoet]

That *would* have been masterful, wouldn't it? -- if I had done it consciously.

[sbpoet]

I like the second best, too.

[carolee]

i like how you go into the trail of letters and back out again. it's a great mirrored effect.

and i think the fact that humans are knowing of our own likely extinction (and really slow to do a damn thing about it) would be wonderful to explore more in poetry and metaphor. but it is hard, you're right!

[Tumblewords]

A challenging circle of format turns the tide and produces a finely tuned piece of thoughtful poetics! I really enjoyed this!

[irene]

I like how you inverted...and went full circle

[Dana]

Nice. I love "we band / together, a braid / of betrothal and betrayal." And you went forward AND backward. What an accomplishment. I am so impressed. OMG.

[Erin]

I agree with Dana. Impressive indeed!

[wayne]

I like both parts ....nicely done