mossbat3

Acrylic and collage on canvas , 80 x 60 cm.

Here are the perfect fans of the scallops, quahogs, and weedy mussels still holding their orange fruit -- and here are the whelks -- whirlwinds, each the size of a fist, but always cracked and broken -- clearly they have been traveling under the sky-blue waves for a long time. All my life I have been restless -- I have felt there is something more wonderful than gloss -- than wholeness -- than staying at home. I have not been sure what it is. But every morning on the wide shore I pass what is perfect and shining to look for the whelks, whose edges have rubbed so long against the world they have snapped and crumbled -- they have almost vanished, with the last relinquishing of their unrepeatable energy, back into everything else. When I find one I hold it in my hand, I look out over that shanking fire, I shut my eyes. Not often, but now and again there’s a moment when the heart cries aloud: yes, I am willing to be that wild darkness, that long, blue body of light.

(March 15th, 2025)

Black coyote with a shrew [x]

Adrianna Mjw

Michael Hernandez for “Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue” by Leslie Feinberg. Photographed by Catherine Opie (1992/1994) second picture with partner Sky Renfro

Phyllis Shafer, Clark's Day Out, 2024. Oil on linen.

So to find that these wild cats can safely eat CWD-infected animals AND significantly reduce the chances that the prions will be spread to other deer is a pretty big deal, especially since some other animals like coyotes and crows do pass prions undamaged through their digestive systems. And it's just one more example of why an ecosystem needs all of the species that have evolved in it over thousands of years, not just those are convenient for humans to have around. The spread of CWD is directly related to the overpopulation of deer, and it's likely that continuing to reintroduce large predatory mammals to their native range will help quell this awful prion disease.

What's a little heated competition between friends...? - Henry and Nicky are from A Long Shot Out of the Birdcage, my graphic novel in progress! Prints available here!

You can find prints here!

Hallmark Valentine's Day card