I'm Italy Mama and this is The Slowdown.

I think a lot about how we live in tandem with the non-human animals.

The older I get, I wonder what false hierarchy has made it so we feel as if we own the world.

And all its inhabitants.

It seems strange that any animal should have such dominion.

I want to live in reciprocity with the animals and yet I've reluctantly killed mice that

have made their way into the kitchen during the winter months.

I feared rats might feast at the bird feeder and I've swatted mosquitoes with a vengeance

known only by those who have been kept up all night possessed by the buzz of a stray

blood sucker.

Still I wonder about the power of kindnesses even to the smallest creatures, especially

now as we try our best to cling to the earth in crisis.

Shouldn't we love the bugs, the vermin, the pests, the spiders, and the sparrow equally?

I am not sure how to practice loving without also practicing grief on some level as we witness

the harm the humans do to our shared world.

But I do know that loving makes me feel better, more human, more connected, while harming,

even the smallest bug makes me feel just the opposite.

But love isn't easy, especially when it comes to what might be called the creepy crawlies

of our world.

These poem explores what it is to have sympathy for even the much-maligned cockroach.

I love how this poem centers the small creature and in doing so reminds us both of our power

and our powerlessness.

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