As part of the mobilizing spiritual communities working group for Oak Flat, I attended a gathering called by Apache Stronghold after the US administration illegally transferred the land to the Resolution copper mine. Here is the poetic prayerful reflection that I wrote sitting at the edge of Ga’an canyon adjacent to Oak Flat in Arizona.
The crackle and constant hum,
a ripple of electricity flowing down thin cables
hung on monstrous transformers buzzing behind me…
The early morning birdsong in front of me
as the Ga’an canyon expands,
a chiseled crevice in the reddened bouldered land.
The sun rises beyond the stacked boulders in the horizon
Beings frozen in stone forever guardians of this place.
A lone tree atop a rocky hill, its neighbor, a transformer
constantly emitting a buzzing rhythm of electricity traveling down its wires.
How long has that tree had to listen to the incessant chatter
feeding the greedy devices of humans?
What does it think of the demises and destructions
that humans have borne upon this land?
What does it whisper in the winds?
Below a sandy path awaits the rains
that may bring streams to flow.
An outcropping of boulders, like a gathering of family members
holding each other side by side in an embrace,
looks on,
watching as the landscape evolves over millennia.
I touch the bark of oak trees
encircling their trunk
caressing their knots and broken branches.
In my mind, I commune with these trees
and thank them for their life, and labor on this land
asking if they know we are here, we are praying.
Will they remember my touch?
My fingerprint on their trunk?
I ask for wisdom from a tree that appears to have little life left in it,
branches bare, except for a few clusters of leaves on one or two branches.
It’s trunk thick
and roots like cooled lava, pooling between the stiff rocks at its base:
Strength is the message,
immovable strength.
Standing against the elements,
nourishing itself where it’s rooted.
Speaking truth to power in the only way it can
by Standing Firm.
Creation looms around it in harmony.
And the copper mine with its constant bright lights and sharp edges
carved out of the side of a mountain
stands threatening the future of this land.
Ironically the trail posts installed by the national forest service
have the emblem of an American flag and a mantra:
‘Preserve America’s Resources.’
A sharpened double entendre
Those who seek to gain riches by exploiting the land
want to control those resources.
while others wish to preserve the resources
But what does the land want?
Is it our servant or are we hers?
Human domination threatens our own survival
through wars motivated by capture and exploitation of resources.
Through mines that desecrate the earth,
enslave people,
and harm the health of every living thing.
The oaks speak to the wind,
“Will they listen?”
Can the hearts of those with power
who grasp for riches to exploit
release their fear of scarcity
and their greed for profits for the few?
What would the world look like then?
The guardian stones
that have been here for millennia
must laugh at us humans.
Who do we think we are?
big brained bipeds
who are tipping the fragile balance of the planet
towards self destruction.
But the stones will remain …
standing or collapsed at the bottom of a crater.
They will remain long after the corporations have fizzled.
But will humanity?
j-Ray (Jennifer Kaye Rayman) retired early from her career as a professor of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies and in 2019 returned to the lands where she grew up- in what is currently known as Tucson, Arizona – on the ancestral lands of the Tohono O’odham and Yaqui peoples. Early in her learning about Deaf people and their cultures, she marveled at the creativity of human beings to invent solutions for living through their connections with each other and culture. She continues to hold hope for the capacity of human beings to create imaginative solutions to the climate crisis. She is an artist and a lyrical non-fiction writer, as well as a certified SoulCollage® facilitator.
j-Ray participates in the Mobilizing Spiritual Communities Committee and Oak Flat Working Group and is committed to the spiritual work of repairing our relationship with the Earth and her human and non-human inhabitants.
One Response
Thank you so much for this poem.