BIOPHILIA<\/p>\n
–at the conservation reserve outside London, Ontario– The fox came upon us unexpectedly. <\/p>\n “Biophilia” originally appeared in ARC<\/em> and in Human Cartography<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(Truman State University Press, 2002).<\/p>\n James Gurley,<\/a> originally from North Carolina, has lived in Seattle for over 22 years. He holds an MFA from the University of Montana, where he studied with Richard Hugo. His poems have appeared in American and Canadian journals. He has published two chapbooks, and one full-length collection of poetry, Human Cartography,<\/em> <\/a>winner of the T. S. Eliot Award. His writing has been supported with grants from Artist Trust and the Seattle and King County arts commissions, as well as a literary fellowship from the Artist Trust\/Washington State Arts Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BIOPHILIA –at the conservation reserve outside London, Ontario– after E.O. Wilson The fox came upon us unexpectedly. He froze and our world narrowed to a span meters wide. I heard your words break into fragments. So uneasy– something so extraordinary … Continue reading
\nafter E.O. Wilson<\/em><\/p>\n
\nHe froze and our world narrowed to a span
\nmeters wide. I heard your words
\nbreak into fragments. So uneasy–
\nsomething so extraordinary
\nstood close to where we stood. His diaphragm
\nrising and falling, eyes searching
\nfor any movement that might
\nbetray us. The smell of water, the directional
\nbend of a plant stalk
\nmattered. I turned my head
\nand he vanished. Melted
\ninto abstract description,
\nthat’s just a metaphor for slyness,
\nmalevolence, the implicit threat.
\nThese qualities he channels
\ninto his ability to stay alert.
\nAlive. It’s nearly dusk; the trees
\nsuffused with dimming light.
\nWe stop by a pond fringed with larch–
\nrest, still craving a sense
\nof the mysterious. Your words pour
\nin and around me, and I want to know the touch
\nof everything. Described this way,
\nit’s nothing but a glimpse
\nof one small animal.
\nSay it’s only myth: say he looks
\nat us from his own world. In the end
\nit’s enough to just believe.<\/p>\n