peacock study

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Living In and With

We encourage the song birds to come to us

Feeding sunflower seeds and thistle

As if we are not already overrun with wildlife

Thriving in the midst of human landscaping.

We discriminate against mourning doves and squirrels

Begrudging the house sparrows in the mix

Removing the suet mobbed by the starlings

Twice a day refilling the trays soon empty.

We pull weeds from the flower garden

Selecting which plants we favor

While the rabbits watch and wait

And the chipmunks scamper about.

The rabbits see our garden as their salad

The deer browse in our yard as if it is their pantry

We poison the mice to keep them from our actual pantry

And keep lids on the trash cans to deter the raccoons.

We hope to attract butterflies and hummingbirds

Growing native flowers the deer leave undisturbed.

In the soil the weed seeds wait dormant biding their time

Ready to succeed whenever our efforts falter.

For the animals that have adapted to humans

The sixth extinction does not yet apply.

Whatever can do well in this environment proliferates

Counter to the trend of planetary habitat loss.

July meadow garden

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NJ Highlands Appalachian bedrock

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