Felita the Kitten in the St. Lawrence Lowlands #1

Felita the Kitten in the

Introduction & Acknowledgments

Onefineday, Iwasgardening. ItwasmyfirstyearasaButterfly RangerfortheDavidSuzukiFoundationandIwasputtinginsome nativesinmyboyfriend’sfamilygarden. Nativeplantsarethosewho haveco evolvedwiththewildlifeofanenvironment. It’simportantto plantthembecausemanypollinatorshavespecialandexclusive relationshipswithcertainkindsofplants. AsIplanted, a neighbourhoodkittenappeared. Small, black,yelloweyes, andcurious asever. MyboyfriendandInamedhimFelix, thoughhertagsaid Zorrita. Shehelpedmegarden…playingwithstrings,pawingatthe earth,jumpingatflies, andtestingoutthestreamfrommywatering can. Feli…tainspiredanideaforapoem, thensoonanideafora collectionofthem. Simple, accessiblepoemsthathappentomention plantsnativetotheSt. LawrenceLowlands(MixedwoodPlains) ecozone. Poemsthatcouldbeplasteredaboutorshareddearlylike guerrillaartormessagesfromyournana. Ioftenwritewithadecisive stanceorplea. Here, Iwrotetoinspireandaidpeoplewhoareableand willingtocontributefurthertotheecosystemwhichholdsourlivesin adelicatebalance.

ThelifeI’veplantedhasbeenonuncededKanien'kehakaterritory. A landthathasseenmanycommunitiesandtheircontributions, includingtheAnishinaabegandtheHuron-Wendat. Seenative-land.caforothernationsintheregion.

~Julieta~

Introduction & Acknowledgments

concept/compilation: Julieta Lozano Ramsay

writer: Julieta Lozano-Ramsay

my partner in c…onservation: Shirley Barnea

french translation/interpretation: unconfirmed, see french version

illustrations: Max S, Noah LG (cover art), Karina, Julieta LR

thank you to:

The David Suzuki Foundation & The Butterflyway Project.

Everyone who has trusted me with their garden. Everyone who shared these poems and wrote their own.

My grandparents. Family, friends, community. Felita :)

resources: Canadian Wildlife Federation

CANPLANT

Community (talk to local school, librarian, gardener club…)

David Suzuki Foundation

Espace Pour La Vie

Fleurs sauvage du Québec

Plant nurseries, stores

Wikipedia & gardening sites for quick reference and many more…

Felita

through the overgrowth comes a kitten lacking hostility or superstition as felita’s curiosity directs it’s way to me the gracious sun reveals a walnut tinge along the back of her short-black coat her impatient interest with my roll of string reveals her spindly claws, yet to be clipped felita doesn’t follow me appearing when she deems a process unfamiliar i kneel to water, felita hasn’t the discipline to pounce, but she crouches in turn, investigating the arch of liquid she sniffs as she wets her face but doesn’t sneer nor back away she turns to bergamot, monardafistulosa, and leaps at a fly then springs on a fence, bounds on a tree felita never seems tall, never seems tired i gather soil to support stems, felita reaches to give it a go her attempts print and dig, but she has the spirit i rest and she inspects a round tortilla chip yet to realise it is of no concern to her or perhaps it is

Lightheaded

Usually, on a day out in June

I get lightheaded

Nauseous from even a bit of sun

Humidity worsened by my own sweat

Needing to lie down, feet up, waiting for the shivers

Today, though I dug and pulled and planted and played with Felita the Kitten

I knew when to take a recess, as patient as the plants

In all honesty, adiantumpedatum, who likes a bit of shade as much as me, told me to sit for a moment

Now, I embrace the warmth Rather than fight the heat

The fern enlightened me I’m light-headed

averwitheye-shieldsremovesabag cratchworthycrate ralhabitat tinthemiddle… toluremeoutwithastringy tag plinghelianthusdecapetalus, usytovacate ditioncat

Violacanadensis

Felita met a delicate flower, smelling of jelly

Dwelling in the earth, spreading already Howgrand, Felita thought, suspendedinsublime

On the other hand, Felita noticed, a caterpillar climb

Something finer! The kitten saw a bee, a miner

And seeds supporting dinners for crawlers and flyers

The beauty marks, in fact, signalling nectar suppliers

Felita saw more than ornaments in bouquets of a bride

And mimicked Viola with nothing but pride

Fissures

Felita the Kitten noticed a crack Running along an asclepias syriaca

Upon closer inspection, Felita fell back

She saw lilac, then black, then heard a quack

As she entered a new world between fissures

She met historians who were worms, lava winged birds

Scents asking for tickets, and though it’s absurd, Felita referred to a nerd, sailing in a thicket

She soon grew hungry, knowing these roots would harm

Felita asked a helmet-crab to lend a helping arm

A marble rabbit joined, as did a stromatolite

Soon enough, Felita returned, but forgot to walk upright …Figures

Space

i gathered some tools and sunk my bare hands into a bed of dirt along on a walkway suchathinspace, i thought, shallowandconstrictedbycementandpropertylines but once i started turning dirt to soil and laying out where my sprouts would root the space felt expansive once again i remembered how much space those zigzags took up in the car, our arms, her wallet… yet when solidagoflexicaulissettled in the soil, when the space was the place they belong, theysomehowcreatedmore

Mudinmysandal

It was an overcast and sparsely rainy afternoon

Not one drop hit me from above

Canoes over water daring a cupped-hand sip

As if it freshly sprang from the fountain of life

I slipped, in my stumble, found myself

Surrounded by justicia americana

I had gotten distracted, listening to stories from history

Of eating, medicating, celebrating

The plant’s roots held my heel, I wouldn’t erode

I locked into a world of muskrats, hummingbirds, deer

I lucked into a world of fish nurseries and bees

I lacked a word to describe the skipper butterflies

And I listened to stories of history from today

As I felt them play out beneath my heel

Tendamonoculture,becomedesertified

Felita the Kitten wisely reminds to care for a space hosting life of all kinds I hear the names of a garden, they’re a song to play symphyotrichum novae angliae, lilium canadense

Joyous weeds, sharing ferns, lysimachia borealis rocks and trees, fallen seeds, aquilegia canadensis

Through parasites, cute critters, reluctantly useful bugs heat waves, pathogens, children who like to tug

All bits of life, but the land knows to hold their own no one’s good for everything, or anything all alone

How easy we forget that below the stems, below the fruits there are filters and keepers called rhizomes and roots

Between them a shared world we can feel but not see mobile and nurturing each home giving tree

Even with the greatest care, the brightest shrub will wilt if you stomped out the others of the land on which you built Microbiomes of many an organism provide a richer foundation a generous life force that upholds through ills of generations

Embrace new ideas, long bonds, changes through turmoil …tend one flower, strip the soil Don’t fall in love and discard, integrate Never decide what you are, investigate There is no single bringer of joy, rotate Search for more than one context to connect Consider why something silly may deserve respect Allow yourself a variety of seeds, embrace some weeds, and meet your needs including what’s yet to be seen Even still we are not the above the land, we are not the green We are not the flowers, we are what’s in between

FelitaRemembersPearlyEverlastings

Painted Lady grew up in bliss

On a plant called Anaphalis

Painted Lady had a great idea Cocooned on Margaritacea

Painted Lady took flight, “I’ll Miss and See ya!” From Anaphalis Margaritacea

SeasideLimerick

On the salty coast, Felita sees a siren

Carpets and coins burst yellow of a lion She follows the magic to the tune

The bees and birds sang near the dune Of solidago sempervirens

Undergrown

Felita the Kitten was born in a city

Thought there to be endless green

On a stroll, one afternoon, she realised she travelled far And stopped to figure out where she had reached Felita turned her head, behind her, seasons changed She had walked through winter’s freshness

And hopped through autumn's seeds

Just completed spring’s pollen

Now, tangled in summer’s weeds

Felita turned her head again, this time she discovered

A type of park she had yet to consider

For menispermumcanadensecovered concrete towers

For the air breathed renewal and damselflies landed

For it was finger havers who were the exception

Their homes nestled into bounteous spaces

Their roads carved into mountains (not that you could tell at a glance)

Giant sculptures sat as if one day they just appeared

Like the ground opened and out came a metal mobile, a bright red silo, they had no ego, each piece contributed Though massive, they weren’t the focal point, they worked themselves in, weaved into lush grasses

Felita recognized that no one had bulldozed to begin then built on top, adding little patches to keep pretty

We are the patch, we fit into the park

When Felita returned to the city all she could picture, while she walked bare roofs and crowded windows, under and through spaces rather than on, was the green she now knew to be possible

Fin.

more: issuu.com/felitathekitten

Thank you for reading!

This is just the beginning…

Read this edition in french: issuu.com/felitathekitten

Share pictures of native plants: #FelitaFindsFlora

Find resources in the introduction.

Ask questions for more resources: felitathekitten.blogspot.com

*If a poem or illustration is not included in this edition or subsequent compilations posted on our issuu, we didn’t create nor distribute it *

Stay tuned for Felita the Kitten’s next edition!

And hey, You found Felita. This may just be a sign to look up that plant name and see if you can learn to identify it or even plant it yourself!

All native plants named in Felita the Kitten #1:

● adiantum pedatum

● anaphalis margaritacea

● aquilegia canadensis

● asclepias syriaca

● chelone glabra

● helianthus decapetalus

● justicia americana

● lilium canadense

● lysimachia borealis

● menispermum canadense

● monarda fistulosa

● solidago flexicaulis

● solidago sempervirens

● symphyotrichum novae-angliae

● viola canadensis

These plants are native to the St. Lawrence Lowlands: Find out if you’re there: Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands (Wikipedia)

Pssttt, heythere, onemorething.

You weren’t supposed to, like, find this compilation. Those messages with links to the issuu account are… scarce. We didn’t even put them up for a long time. We’d be chuffed if people shared us on their platforms, but we never asked for any promotion. These compilations serve as a way to: Give credit for the hard work of artists and translators, provide resources, and acknowledge which Felita’s are originals.

Since you’re not supposed to find this compilation in the first place, I hope you’ll indulge me a bit. Let me tell you my vision for Felita the Kitten. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it all, Felita lore extends into places I’ve not disclosed. There are poems out there now you won’t find here for many editions. And, like anything, it may evolve. Felita is for everyone. Felita is a commons.

Across the St. Lawrence Lowlands, I hope you find Felita the Kitten in the

camera roll of your phone ‘ cause you saw something attached to a lamppost and wanted to get a closer look. I hope you find her pasted into a scrapbook of things you found on a road trip. I hope you find her in your mailbox sent to you by a neighbour, in bulletin boards of shops and cafes, in newspapers, under rocks, between pages of library books. I hope you find rarer poems marked on maps, in postcards, polaroids, at the market or thrift shop, under your desk or boot.

I tell you all this to invite you to interact with these poems however you please. Perhaps write your own, store seeds, participate in community science by reporting sightings. Engage with community, realise that you have one if you can’t seem to place the word. Search, stumble upon, connect, collect, share!

Have fun. Explore. Keep roots in the ground. Plant native. Felita is out there.

~ Finger haver