I read this poem several times. It brings to life the hidden reciprocity of life. Humans take for granted the way living happens and all phenomena are co-dependent. I read a bit of Alphonso Lingis today and he pointed out life is contingent upon relationships enveloped in reciprocity placing us in vulnerable spaces in this world we cohabit with all phenomena.
Maryiln McEntyre‘s poem reminds me of the vulnerability we encounter in life without realizing it. Life is, at once and paradoxically, strong and precarious. We cannot own something we hold in common with another and others. Humans encounter life as a covenant when we accept both its strength and fragility.
If you forget what axons do,
or how a virus invades a cell,
remember this—
that light becomes food.
That the seasons rhyme,
a different word each time
turning soil into living song.
That all things work together.
Even death. Even decay.
That this is the way
of the world we got: what is given
grows by grace and care
and knows what it needs.
That life is strong, and precarious,
full of devices and desires.
That what we hold in common
may not be owned. Control
is costly. Close attention
is the reverence due
whatever lives and moves,
mutant and quick and clever.
That our neighbors—
the plankton, the white pine,
the busy nematodes–
serve us best
in reciprocal gratitude:
what they receive, they give.
The way the heart accepts
what the vein delivers and sends it on,
again. Again.
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About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
That life cannot be owned is a deep truth to live by. Thank you for this poem.
You are welcome.
Although each line of that poem speaks well to me, I think my favorite line is this: Control is costly. I immediately thought of governments, ours and others, controlling their people. Repression, wire tapping, spying, control of the internet. And it is costly. There seems to be more and more unrest, and unrest is a very expensive cost.
Anytime we attempt to control the cost is high. You make an excellent point that there is less trust, perhaps none, in our governments. The Internet was to be a great equalizer and has turned into a surveillance tool for government and corporate entities.
Understanding this, changes actions. What I do to you, to any living thing, I do to me. Your site has such inspirational, soulful posts. Happy Father’s Day. ❤
Thank you for the comment and the wishes.
A wonderful as well as an important poem…to think about, understand and live by. Thank you for sharing.
You are welcome.
“Life is, at once and paradoxically, strong and precarious….” Thank you for the depth of your observation and contemplations, Ivon, as always, and for introducing this stunning and wise poem to me. Lovely and insightful post, my friend.
You are welcome.
All arranged in wisdom ; loved the verse : what they receive they give …
Doda 🙂
Thank you for a lovely summary Doda.