Do bears experience aliveness through a poetic lens?

A musing about other ways of being alive

Watching Wilford The Bear Makes A Bed And Takes A Nap In The Angeles National Forest, I find myself wondering: do bears experience aliveness through a poetic lens?

The bear digs his temporary nest, yawns and stretches, rearranges himself, with such seeming contentment. Does a kind of wild bliss awaken in the bear as the sunshine layers itself onto his resting body? Do delicious moments from his days pass through the bear’s dreams in a poetic haze, saturated in smells inhaled and sensations enjoyed and hunger satisfied and other creatures met?

Is the soil beneath the bear’s back a miracle? The branch the bear rests his foot on a mystery in its availability? The birdsong and the way that the leaves in the trees are gently swayed by passing breezes a wonder?

Does he language his poetic experiences to himself? To other bears? To other creatures? Does he know poetry in the rising of the sun, the setting of the moon, the seasons landing and departing beyond any languaging we human creatures know or would recognise?

Does he, too, enjoy finding sit spots? Does he, too, have favourite trunk flairs? Does he, too, walk himself into place with intention, and care, and hope, and love?

Does he leave squish poetry into the soil beneath his paws, the waterfall of his urine, the arrangement of his scat? Does he see death in the world and make awe-filled musings about aliveness? Does he have moments where the arrangement of bear and more-than-human and place and matter and ecosystems and this Earth and this universe is exquisite, just as they are?

Do bears experience aliveness through a poetic lens? Or does he relate to aliveness through poetry I cannot imagine my way into?

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𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗿𝘀

After the usual rearrangings of a new group forming, there is a lovely small group of us that are journeying together as part of the first 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗮𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯 season, and 𝘄𝗲’𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝟮 𝘁𝗼 𝟯 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀.

The Critical Badger Book Club is an exploration of ourselves, each other, the more-than-human, this world, and the universe through an ecological lens, intended to ignite and deepen ecological curiosity, ecological relationships, and ecological embodiment.

Season dates: 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 - 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗔𝗬 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
Monthly calls: 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛 𝟭𝟬 - 𝟭𝟭𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗗𝗧/𝗣𝗦𝗧 // 𝟲 - 𝟳𝗽𝗺 𝗨𝗞 // 𝟳 - 𝟴𝗽𝗺 𝗖𝗘𝗧, meeting on zoom
Between call voice messages and group organising: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽

Cost: 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻
Language: 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵

→ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯, including how we honour and embody seasonality and how we celebrate study as small and depthful as much as expansive and extensive.