Rewilding the Body
Based on Isobel Tree’s account of rewilding, Knapp House Farm.
The ribs of my country jut, its dreams tilled to exhaustion. by intensively farmed ambition. Let thistle stitch my wounds, as painted-lady caterpillars feast on their prickles. Let pigs unzip my paths, with cracks for bastard toadflax and meadow-cleary. Let the ragwort flourish as one hundred and seventy-seven insect species thrive on its bad reputation. Let longhorn cattle tramp hoof-print pools for fairy shrimp, water crowfoot, stonewort. And one moonlit night, nightingales will return to fill my country with numinous song. Rachael Clyne
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