human – south broadway press

tassili n’ajjer (cave in algeria)

when the earliest shamans
emerged from the primordial mist
adorned in skins and skulls
with fists full of mushrooms

the dimensions flowed freely
like rivers cutting through the rock
after the younger dryas impact

our spines and chakras were aligned
to receive those dimensional outputs
magnetic bands of frequencies
flowering from the gravitational center of the universe
like a fractal mandala

shiva and shakti
creating and destroying everything all at once
bringing balance and purpose to the whole

but we became too focused
on the physical environment
overly busy avoiding predators
while hunting and gathering food

our powerful thoughts
became consumed with fear
bending our spines
and misaligning our chakras
filtering out the higher dimensions
hardening the density of physical 3d space
replacing balance with chaos
adjusting our bandwidth
away from the meridians
of the universal body
trapping us in the concrete filaments
of our devolving human minds

Dan Fijolek is a writer and poet from Longmont, Colorado. He has previously been published in Boulder Weekly & Jasper’s Folly Vol. 1.

to be human is not an act of desecration
 
to live humanly is not anathema to nature. 
I do not apologize for my humanness.

-----------------------------------------------*

I do not apologize for the flower I picked
and carried in my hand to the mountaintop.
I spoke to the flower like an old friend 
then loosed her on the wind 
watching petals and stamen soar 
across the river rich valley below.
I do not apologize for this.

-----------------------------------------------*

I do not apologize for the shade I stand in
cast by brick and mortar and bitumen.

I do not apologize for the steel faucet I turn
loosing earth-cooled water from buried pipes,

filling my mouth with metallic-tinged life
crystal and blooming, pouring down my chin, 

splashing crisp against my bare feet.
I do not apologize for this seasonal waterfall.

------------------------------------------------*

I do not apologize for trails followed through grass and wood,
for the dent in the forest floor where I sat 
and shared lunch with a kingfisher: 
----------He, a silver-green fish, snared fresh
----------I, clementine, grown far from this alpine stream.

------------------------------------------------*

To be human is not an act of desecration.

I am nature as trees
nature as salmon spawned in rivers far from the sea
nature as lichen on scree
nature as lion, as leopard 
----------as beaver, as bison 
nature as wildfire, as hurricane
as water lifted as mist, as water dropped in flakes
as daisies carpeting desert sands.

I am nature as the curious cat–
slow stalking intrigue
delight of game, of pounce
of crunch, of blood
glutted and full of mouse.

I am humanness.
I am holiness. 
I am a masterpiece.

Laura Leigh Cissell (she/they) is an autistic, queer Texan expat residing in the Colorado foothills. They are the head of data analytics for a tech startup, an MFA candidate at Regis University, a spouse, parent, and occasionally a poet. Laura’s greatest sadness is that all the sea turtles of the world will never know how much she loves them.

Tag: human

tassili n’ajjer (cave in algeria) | Dan Fijolek

to be human is not an act of desecration | Laura Leigh Cissell