Please join Synkroniciti in welcoming poet and writer Annette Boushey Holland. “Curiosity” features her poem, “Downstream Neighbor,” which tells the story of a man who purchases a tract of wetlands along a creek and subsequently works against nature by clearing it, draining it and running cattle on it, reshaping it with backhoe and concrete where it does not succumb to his vision. “I got an agenda. I want my pastures all bone dry.” We are caught up in Annette’s incredulity and her reasonable concern, delivered in beautifully paced, alliterative music against crude aggression. “Did he not see the silver salmon spawning last winter near the bridge, below the mailboxes?” The lack of wonder and curiosity and the need to place himself in conflict with his environment is obscene, especially considering the value of wetlands in local and global ecosystems. And yet, it is his freedom to do so, a freedom that is enshrined as part of the pioneer spirit, bending nature’s will for human gain. But at what price?
Read Annette’s telling poem, illustrated with the photography of Allison Curtis, Rooster Song, taken along the aforementioned creek, in the upcoming “Curiosity” issue, now available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/. The issue drops on June 1st, online only.
Annette Boushey Holland is a writer, artist, and environmental activist. Her work has appeared in Streetlight Magazine, Spindrift: Stories of Place, The Wind Horse, the Northcoast Journal, Grace Millennium, and other outlets. She has published a chapbook, Clouds of Offering.
She holds an MA in English literature and taught English composition. A former staff writer for the Nature Conservancy, Annette helped found two land trusts and is working to protect redwood forest in Northern California. She hosts meditation retreats in a 110-year old remodeled barn.
