the wilderness is where the wild is
the wilderness is empty
the wilderness is our salvation
the wilderness must be saved
the wilderness is where one is exiled to
the wilderness is where tribes once lived
the frontier is wide open
la frontera is closed to passage
the frontier is an edge
la frontera is a region
the frontier encloses us
la frontera closes us out
the desert is empty
the desert is rare habitat
the desert is deadly
the desert is alive
the desert is a sacrifice zone
the desert must be saved
the desert was ocean
the desert is parched
the desert will be ocean again
we have reached the edge
there are no edges on a sphere
no borders in atmosphere
wilderness is the salvation of the world
wilderness is better off without humans,
so some think
—
Haiku translator Harry Behn told Karina Lutz as a child to “write from experience.” So she gathered experience: as an environmental activist; editor, reporter, and magazine publisher; professor, yoga teacher, and workshop facilitator; farmer, carpenter, and seamstress. She helped secure passage of sustainable energy legislation, thwart a proposed megaport, launch a green power nonprofit, and startup a permaculture cooperative. Her poems are widely published, including her books Post-Catholic Midrashim and Preliminary Visions.
