“Another world is not only possible. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.”
--- Arundhati Roy, Indian novelist, activist and world citizen
Softly, on the sigh of a breeze
in the steady certainty of her quiet exhale
another way unfurls, answering our longing
for a different world, a place of peace and possibilities
where children always have enough
and mothers and fathers
always love without limitation
giving no thought to the things that hinder
or impoverish their hopes, their dreams.
Where on this wide round planet can
that kind of world exist if we cannot find it
within our fragile hearts, tender with desire
bruised from too many years of silencing,
too many clamoring voices drowning out
the visions of prophets and seers
poets and peons, the brilliant crazy ones
who know that the only thing we need
to do to change everything is to be still
open our eyes, un-jail our hearts, rid our tongues
of hateful words, liberate our weary minds
of bigotry and separation, open our lungs
to joy and celebration, ride the winds of change
as if we had no other choice.
We must bury our war dead forever
bury our wars, too. We must cultivate
compassion for everything, big or little, human or not
making room for every woe, every jubilation
for it is only here inside our blood and our bones
that the breath of the world can birth her precious promise
fill us with the fortitude we need to create
a new way of life, a new way to live.
If we listen, we will know how to join her
in her quiet revolution, how to echo her nonviolent wail
for justice and equality for every being
everywhere a breath is breathed, everywhere a life is born
until at last we all are free to come home
to the only home we have every truly wanted
the only place where we can resuscitate our meager hopes
with the replenishing air of her unfailing breath.
Author's note: this poem is from my book of poetry, Motherlines (Pearlsong Press, 2026).
Meet Mago Contributor, Mary Saracino – Return to Mago E*Magazine
Oh Mary, I just finished writing a piece on the same issue – This writing is astonishing – so beautifully crafted with such an urgent message… I include my little offering to the planet here: Wild Cats and Witherod
It’s been a long week, hard on Coalie and I because we have not been able to get away from summer traffic in ‘vacationland’. Due to a blown tire and uncooperative car repair folks who had no time for us we have been restricted to walking close to home on side roads for more than a week… the night before last I carried Coalie until we could walk safely down someone’s driveway when a screaming motorcycle suddenly bore down on us with a fat man at the helm just as I put my dog on the ground. Did he make any attempt to slow down for an old woman and her frightened five-pound dog? Of course not – he sped by in the middle of the road forcing us into the grass as his host’s dogs (still some distance away) barked in a wild frenzy. What mayhem. The noise was deafening .
Earlier that day I visited someone to share news about pesticide spraying because I knew these folks have an organic garden and might want to know. An act of kindness on my part. When this woman began her tirade against trump I couldn’t shut her up even after repeatedly saying that I did not follow politics and focused on what I could change – like passing on helpful information – since I could do nothing about the other. The woman was obsessed, spewing garbage I didn’t want to hear and wouldn’t shut up. Coalie was in my arms as her unfriendly cats drew closer. And closer. She bragged about how her cats like to scare other dogs. It wasn’t until the black one made it clear he was ready for a confrontation that I stood up, stared him down and said, don’t you dare! Animals know when I say no I mean it. Of course, the bully backed off.
I am allergic to bullies, and I won’t put up with them. As people they are driven by aggression and fear that they won’t own.
Like the motorcycle jerk they hide behind their powerful machines, verbal bullying or veiled threats to feel, what? Important? Like a ‘real’ person? Men and women – both.
Not surprisingly sometimes bullies have animals that reflect the moods and character of the humans they live with. I had just witnessed one such experience.
Encounters with bullies remind me that some people just aren’t willing become who they really can be – decent human beings. We all have choices. People like this choose the dark side. Disheartening.
The next day it was rainy, so I was free to walk Coalie down the road. I knew no motorcycles would be around under gray clouds and drizzle! Relaxed, and peering into the bushes I was startled to see one wild viburnum whose gorgeous fruits stopped me in my tracks. What color! And such abundance. Pearl white, cream, pale pink, deep rose even a midnight blue! Oh, the clumps were stunning. I picked one branch and when I got home lay it on a New Mexican weaving of the Tree of life.
Ah here was a visual reminder that the season of abundance offered priceless jewels.
When I researched the species, I was surprised to read that its common name was Witherod. I was struck by the term because it could imply a ‘rod’ could wither – a natural antidote to bullying? Or more likely the reverse? I learned that because these branches were so flexible that they could and were used by colonists as switches to discipline children. Another kind of bullying.
There was also a reference to the branches being used to create baskets. The Wabanaki (Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Penobscot Abenaki etc.) weave baskets out of pounded brown ash (black ash) and sweetgrass. However, flexible shrubs like witherod are also gathered alongside ash, sweet grass, willow, and alder to create utilitarian and fancy baskets, a fact I did not know. I find it interesting that humans can use their energy in such different ways.
This magnificent bush was evidently very hardy because the road was heavily traveled and salted. Many bushes and trees along the roads were dying, the result of too much road pollution (trucks, motorcycles, cars etc.).
Ah, but not this one I thought.
Here is another survivor!
I already knew that the huge clusters of berries of wild viburnums not only fed birds but other kinds of wildlife. In the spring their blossoms were covered with bees and butterflies. Pollinators of all kinds loved the flowers.
After we returned home it began to rain in earnest and I sat by the window gazing into a gathering dusk and who should pass by but a tawny buff and gray striped bobcat with very distinct pointed ears. Although I have seen these animals occasionally during the winter months (and often followed their tracks while snowshoeing) I have never witnessed one walking by the window during the summer. Immediately, I thought of the young turkeys of various sizes that were living and feeding nearby. Hopefully the turkeys were able to keep their young safe. There are plenty of squirrels and other creatures to feast upon.
I casually opened the computer to get a clear photo of the cat I’d seen and this is when I discovered that the environmental police masquerading as ‘wildlife experts’ are worried that the endangered lynx is mating with the bobcat. They are ‘worried’ that this new hybrid will destroy the ‘purity’ of the lynx’s bloodline. I suspect I know what comes next… These same wildlife folks are presently in the process of shooting half a million barred owls to ‘protect’ the endangered spotted owl in the west. No doubt the bobcat is next.
Does this kind of ethnic cleansing sound familiar to the reader? What we do to humans we do to animals. We also have the ‘invasive plant police’ replicating the same behavior with non – native plant species. And oh, are the latter vigilant! These folks gather eager beaver volunteers to help them kill off the non – native plant ‘enemy’… their brand of ethnic cleansing.
Apparently, the so called ‘experts’ have no concept of how the rest of Nature evolves. We are in the midst of catastrophic non-human losses and Nature is adapting by creating new animals and plant species that will be able to survive this upheaval. Instead of applauding Nature’s ingenuity and creativity and supporting ki* we are only interested in keeping our familiar species and ‘our’ world exactly as it was…
Nature takes the long view. With four plus billion years under ki’s belt S/he knows. Species come and go, but Life continues. Survival of the whole is Nature’s goal.
That humans believe that they know how Nature operates reflects the depth and breadth of our hubris and colossal ignorance. We may not admit it, but we are only one species on this magnificent planet that we are trying so hard to destroy.
Maybe we will wipe out the owls and the bobcats, but other species will soon take their place.
I think this war against Nature will probably end in our demise unless we learn to cooperate and return sovereignty to the planet that gave us life. Those Indigenous world peoples who live in respectful relationship with Nature seem to be the Peoples we need to turn towards for help. If it’s not already too late these humans could show the rest of us how to live.
*Ki is short for kin, a word I have adopted. Scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer coined the word to help the rest of us remember that all of us are related and belong to the rest of Nature.