Pastoral Resistance

By ROB SPILLMAN

Dogs in Meadow
Deer in Grass


Catskill, New York

A fair friend resists the pastoral,
insisting glacier collapse fire tornado sixth
extinction privilege the privilege of writing
about a peaceful wood walk. Walking in the
woods, I resist as well, as well. A sudden freeze
after the first hopeful warmth has silenced
the peepers. The resident red-shouldered hawks
have ripped apart another guinea fowl, its speckled
black and white feathers in a neat circle
in the bare winter wheat field, no trace
of blood or body. The dog is bored by feathers,
dashes after gleaning robins and burrowing
field mice, far from the Russian bus shelter
where she was found, far from her Brooklyn
youth. We’ve fled together, to the pastoral, to
walk the woods and fields, to plant blight-
resistant American Chestnuts and Catskill-
native flowers and ferns. If we burn or
are swept away, we will do so with muddy
paws, witnessing until the last pastoral page. 

 

 

Rob Spillman co-founded and edited Tin House Magazine from 1999 to 2019 and is the author of the memoir All Tomorrow’s Parties from Grove Press.

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

Pastoral Resistance

Related Posts

Baileys Harbor Shoreline

On the Shores of Baileys Harbor

BEN TAMBURRI
The beaches of Baileys Harbor are for birds, too pebbly and coarse to relax on. The water is cold, and the waves break at your ankles.

Two children kneel on a large rock surface, large grey boulders and a forest of trees visible in the distance.

The Garden of the Gods

ELI RODRIGUEZ FIELDER
The gods must have been giant children squeezing drip sandcastles from their palms, back when this land was at the edge of a sea. This used to be a mouth, I say. It feels impossible that this peculiar landscape should suddenly emerge among farms and Dairy Queens.

Damascene Dream

AYA LABANIEH
You raised me, tayteh, rocking me in your lap, spooning Quranic verses into my little ears, scrubbing the living daylights out of me in the bathtub. Slapping your thighs, “Ta’a, ta’a, ta’a,” you’d say to the lovebirds we raised, “Come, come, come,” and they’d fly, all three of them, out their cages in a flurry and land on your breasts, climb your gold chains, nestle against your cheeks.