10

because you cannot eat money

because the lung came from a swim bladder

because of the Burgess Shale

because we are aquatic creatures still

because of all the relatives rights

because of more than three billion years

because who the fuck are we to destroy all this?

because I like the idea of my grandchildren

            and my grandchildren’s grandchildren too

because once and this is true I worked on

            the water and an orca came close by

            the side of my boat and I could have

            reached out and touched its dorsal fin

            but I did not

because in the industrial revolution we

            outsources the body and now we are

            outsourcing the mind

because of the Exxon Valdez

because of Enron

because of Kalamazoo

because our representatives don’t represent

because of otters

because of shellfish and bivalvular life generally

because I have canoed many rivers and found

            them each a unique voice of this earth

because there is love and principle and

            responsibility which is the ability

            to respond and so I am responding now