Mother
this humo ludens collaborans
has many plans
renewing vows
supporting plants
saving bees
down on my knees

with every breath
we take in oxygen
gifts from forests, meadows, mosses & ferns

today is the day for honoring
the heroines of our times
the women who pass on
all the mothering principles
and the women who maintain respect
for Old Mothernature
the Mother of all metaphors
and metamorphoses

Charlie Keil is a musician, cultural anthropologist, and activist who has published many books, including Urban Blues, Tiv Song: The Sociology of Art in a Classless Society, Polka Happiness, Music Grooves (with Steven Feld), and Bright Balkan Morning: Romani Lives and the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia (with Dick Blau, Angeliki Vellou Keil, and Steven Feld). Born to Groove, previously published online, is coming out as a book in 2021. Polka Theory: Perspectives on the Will to Party will also be published in 2021. Keil is a professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo. His biography can be summed up in books that have prepared him for versifying and improvised musicking in service to our true species—Humo ludens collaborans. Poems are from his new poetry collection, Easily Pleased.