Petolog

Petolog

Reading through the posts on this website on my 41st day of self-imposed quarantine, I realize I don’t want to feature stories of outrage and injustice and animal cruelty, certainly not right now. This worldwide crisis wakes me up to see things in a new light. I don’t want to add to anybody’s daily dose of sadness or anger. And who better than a pet – current or former – to bring us into the present moment and try to make the best of it.

So I will be adding to this as I go along, starting with the two buddies in my socially distanced house right now:

June 7, 2020 Now it’s about 92 days in quarantine! It’s too comfortable; I dread re-entry. The best way to convey my pet stories, or indeed any story, is video. I’m just learning and finding out it’s easier than mastering this convoluted Word Press site! So the Petolog video is coming soon!

Trapper Jane
Cece

Silence of the Quarantine

Silence of the Quarantine

Keeping Quiet
Pablo Neruda


Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about…

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with
death.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.