Page 173 - Dark Matter Issue5 Part II

basis for making kin, shared trauma becomes the proving ground for it. As Deena

Metzger writes in "Becoming Kin-Becoming Elephant" (Dark Matter: Women Witnessing,

2016), "Kinship means relationship. It could mean family. It implies attunement and long-

term commitments to each other. The first time I met the Ambassador Elephant, I said, “I

know who you are. You are from a holocausted people and I am from a holocausted

people. ... I promise you, your people are my people.” In recognition of shared trauma,

we can feel kinship with the other victims, even if they are of another species.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

During her childhood in upstate New York, Carol Corwin

preferred spending time in the woods behind the family

home where she listened and observed the life in that

environment. There she learned the habits of many of

the plants and animals and of one rocky stream. She

started writing poetry at age 13, and as it did then, the

inspiration for her poetry still comes almost entirely from

nature. She is currently retired from a career of teaching

English Language Arts. In her poems, Corwin often draws metaphorical comparisons

between a personal experience and a similar experience of another species. Her

connection to animals, in particular, has always been based on a belief that they

experience emotions as we do. Empathy creates connection – to feel kinship elicits our

innate desire to care for and protect. And so Corwin wishes her poetry to cause others

to consider that we share much, maybe everything, with other species.