Painting – “Walking Into Eternity”

“I’ve been following the coverage of the elephant slaughter that is getting even more intense and destructive as so many countries in Africa collapse into civil war. Ivory is a slick commodity that can be quickly traded for guns, drugs, and money.

“There was a recent campaign by the Wildlife Conservation Society to raise consciousness called www.96elephants.org. The number 96 refers to the estimate of how many elephants are killed everyday! The overall numbers are staggering; something over 100,000 in just the last couple of years. That’s why I titled the painting “Walking Into Eternity.” It does not seem like hyperbole to say that elephants may be facing imminent extinction.

“What is this world when they are gone?” -Marius

Read: The End For Elephants? by TRISTAN MCCONNELL
(WARNING: graphic images)

“The Masai Mara Dreams of Vultures”- Poetry by Marius

Dust rises like a silted fog between the Serengeti plains and the mighty Masai Mara
Wildebeests in mass migration, heavy-headed, spindly-legged
Improbable and plenty, walk the beaten path in jeopardy
Relentlessly, attended by the watchful lions, in turn followed
By the jackals, cheetah, wild dogs, and hysterical hyenas
All laughing, tongues lolling, calculating distances
And likely outcomes
Every summer half a million grunting ungulates will meet their fate
And fill the fastest hunter’s need
Bloody-faced and belly-full, they retire when sated, without greed
And the Dance’s second act begins with graceful and ascending arcs
Like dueling kites in wind, the wheeling vultures float above, begin
To fall like stones, to strike the dusty clay
Flexing feathers, hopping froggish trolls
And the bloated, blasted carcass falls to them,
The boisterous mob, full of happy mayhem
Rot and guts are stripped in minutes
A spectacle of ugliness, but life’s directive
Nonetheless – that everything has use
But the Serengeti janitors, Mut’s minions also signal an alarm in azure skies,
That Death is here
And stealth, the poacher’s cloak, is torn away
For more and more, the hungry ghosts of war, the ivory thieves
Kill the gray gargantuan as they move with the herds
And leave cryptic corpses, sad remains
These are dangerous men to inconvenience in their plans
Soldiers in a blighted cause, they spread their poison everywhere
For birds, for men, and the tainted bait they make means this:
No birds to tell a tale, so easy cash and secrets kept
A poacher heeds no law but appetite and market share
Still..empty skies and poisoned corpses
Are a warning in and of themselves
Things fall apart, as Chinua Achebe said
Just this easily
While the Masai Mara dreams of vultures
Gone from the grassy seas

nytimes.com: Vulture Populations Wane, Poisoned by Man

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Painting and Poetry – Trophallaxis

“We have fed you all for a thousand years,
And you hail us still unfed…” these
Stark words of the old Wobbly song
Still time enough now, a hundred years on.
But more so, for millennia more (now)
The tiny, winged workers diligently toil in field
And orchards, bring our good to fruit, fill tables
With all good things that grow, they serve
Like saints, suffer like martyrs and
Share like good anarchists do, or could,
This bond of food, of plenty, forges
Our connection across species and makes the
Gathering of tribes a glad thing.
Leave it to the Greeks! Those feisty defiers
Of Capital’s call to fall in line,
To debt and submission – not they!
But, they have named the bond of bees, who
Share knowledge and community with food,
Trophallaxis, from mouth to mouth, a kiss.
So we can also feed each other, as gardens
Grow, we will grow again,
Together.

Book Reviews and Thank You

So much of Marius’ time is spent on lock-down, when prisoners are confined to their cells.  They cannot access phones or rec areas, and are separated from other prisoners on their unit.  Because of this, the books Marius receives from friends and supporters are a lifeline.  They keep him informed about the world outside of Carswell and books of art and poetry can be a creative outlet.

As a “thank you” Marius wrote down some reviews for books that have been sent to him recently by supporters.

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

“One of the best, no-nonsense books that I’ve read about how broad-reaching the current environmental crisis has become.  She strikes a good balance in her presentation; not an overly dramatic alarmist (though the situation is clearly dire) and with a bit of hope offered if serious and considered steps are taken.”

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams

“The Plague Dogs is a work of fiction, so it has to be taken differently.  It really brings the full character and spirit of the two dog protagonists to the page – which is in and of itself important for readers to consider the implications of animals as complex and sentient beings.  The descriptions of vivisection are brutal, and given in totally bare/raw language, as well as the often useless and nonsensical research topics.  It’s really hard to read those sections, but makes the point eloquently.  Sometimes I think that the role of fiction is to explore these moral questions, let the consequences play out in a storyline where the real beings are hurt, but where possible dangers or harm can be brought to the light, allow public discussion and consideration.”

See Marius’ Support Page for guideline on how to send him a book!

Painting – Sick little brown bat… white nose syndrome

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and partners estimate that at least 5.7 million to 6.7 million bats have now died from white-nose syndrome (WNS).  Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Watch “Bats devastated by white-nose syndrome spread”