Saturday, December 15, 2012

IGWRT's Transforming Friday's - "North American Bison"


North American Bison

Thunder once rolled
upon the plains,
explosive,
ungovernable
beneath a cloudless sky;

stilled by something
instinct couldn't understand.

Margaret Bednar, December 15, 2012


This is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's" - Transforming Friday's with Hannah.  This is the fifth challenge in a beautiful series!

17 comments:

Isadora Gruye said...

what a short, concise masterpiece. Well done!

LLM Calling said...

so speedy, just like their extinction, sadly brilliant

Mr. Charleston said...

Very nice.

Many people don't know that there are actually two kinds of bison on the North American Continent. The plains bison, of which you speak, and the forest bison, a smaller version. When European settlers first arrived the forest bison was quite common with a range all the way to Florida. They to weren't prepared by instinct and all are now gone except for a few who live in Canada.

Fireblossom said...

I am so pleased that you wrote about the American bison! They are emblematic of the way too many human beings treat, and think of, wildlife; as something in the way, and as something we have dominion over, to destroy so another subdivision can be built.

Your endings lately have been so powerful, and this is no exception.

Thanks to Mr. Charleston for the info about the forest bison, which I had no idea about.

PS--Margaret, I love your drawing of the bison!

Mary said...

Well expressed...how sad the destiny of the buffalo.

Kerry O'Connor said...

To me, the decimation of the bison herds is one of the worst acts of human negligence towards animals. Your well-chosen words insure they are still heard in memory of thunder.

Gail said...

Art and words...great.

Kay L. Davies said...

Wonderful drawing and poem, Margaret. There are a few bison left around here, and I've seen very small herds of them, and I've pictured them crossing the prairie by the thousands, driven to their deaths and to the last verge of extinction.
This made me think of a provincial park in Alberta, its name translated from that given the area by the indigenous peoples: Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump.
I wish they had stuck with the name in the original language, because the English makes my stomach hurt.
K

Margaret said...

The English translation is atrocious

Margaret said...

Thank you! I didn't know of the forest bison.

Margaret said...

Yes yes. We loose so much due to our conquering "spirit"

Margaret said...

Lose

Margaret said...

Hmm. Makes me wonder if we took their destiny away from them.

Helen said...

'Thunder' ... the perfect word to describe their past presence.
I like this.

Susan said...

Perfect word/drawing combination. My absolute favorite of yours thus far. Thank you for the thunderous spirit of Bison!

Ella said...

I love your drawing and the wording so expresses the spirit of this creature. Thunder speaks volumes in this poem! Well done

Ginnie Hart said...

WOW! Just recently we watched again "Dances With Wolves," so double WOW.