Animalia (Whitman: I think I could turn and live with animals) / In the Swamp: She threw herself away on a giant bunny

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White Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris), Singapore Zoological Gardens: photo by Nachoman-au, 2005

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.

Hoffman's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica: photo by Leyo, 2005

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

Caracal or desert lynx (Caracal caracal): photo by Van 3000, 2006

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

Mandril (Mandrillus sphinx), Pittsburgh Zoo: photo by matt sabbath, 2008

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Red-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus), Singapore Zoo: photo by Bjørn Christian Tørresen, 2008

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Red-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus), Philadelphia Zoo: photo by Art G., 2007

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta), travelling in a small group, Berenty Private Reserve, Madagascar: photo by Alex Dunkel, 2003

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

Borneo Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), female: photo by Julielangford, 2009

Walt Whitman (1819-1892): "I think I could turn and live with animals", from A Song of Myself, in Leaves of Grass, 1855

Animalia

 Untitled [Dhaka]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 1 April 2017

 Untitled: photo by Ilan Burla, 2 March 2017

 Untitled [Dhaka]: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 15 February 2017

Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017

Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017

 

Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by Md. Enamul Kabir, 12 February 2017

Animalia II

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 23 April 2017

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 23 April 2017

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 18 September 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 9 August 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 15 April 2017

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 30 October 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 29 October 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 15 April 2017

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 18 September 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 14 September 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 10 September 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 23 July 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 3 September 2016

Untitled [Seattle]: photo by Jill Maguire, 27 August 2016

Trump Chicken. Protesters march at the April 15, 2017 Trump Tax Day Protest. Arizona State Legislative Office Complex, Phoenix, Arizona.: photo by Dean Terasaki, 15 April 2017

Trump Chicken. Protesters march at the April 15, 2017 Trump Tax Day Protest. Arizona State Legislative Office Complex, Phoenix, Arizona.: photo by Dean Terasaki, 15 April 2017

Mall of America, No. 2. Minneapolis, Minnesota. An empty retail space in the largest mall in America.: photo by Dean Terasaki, 12 March 2017

Mall of America, No. 2. Minneapolis, Minnesota. An empty retail space in the largest mall in America.: photo by Dean Terasaki, 12 March 2017

Mall of America, No. 2. Minneapolis, Minnesota. An empty retail space in the largest mall in America.: photo by Dean Terasaki, 12 March 2017

Himalayan Griffon Vulture, Kashmir

Himalayan Griffon Vulture, Kashmir: photo by jayanta roy, 29 March 2017

Himalayan Griffon Vulture, Kashmir: photo by jayanta roy, 31 January 2017

Himalayan Griffon Vulture, Kashmir: photo by jayanta roy, 31 January 2017

A boatman returning home on dal lake under heavy snowfall [Srinagar, Kashmir]: photo by jayanta roy, 4 February 2017

Abominable H20 Man

Mumbai: photo by Brendan Ó Sé, 10 July 2016

Mumbai: photo by Brendan Ó Sé, 10 July 2016

Mumbai: photo by Brendan Ó Sé, 10 July 2016

Sawmill [Larvik]: photo by astrid westvang, 17 April 2017

Sawmill [Larvik]: photo by astrid westvang, 17 April 2017

Sawmill [Larvik]: photo by astrid westvang, 17 April 2017

 
Wolverhampton 29012: photo by Mark Morris, 1 March 2012

Wolverhampton 29012: photo by Mark Morris, 1 March 2012

Wolverhampton 29012: photo by Mark Morris, 1 March 2012

SYRIA - US forces, accompanied by Kurdish People's Protection Units fighters drive their armoured vehicles near Darbasiyah. Photo @Delilsouleman: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 April 2017 

#South Sudan A cholera-stricken woman showing signs of malnutrition waits for treatment at a temporary field hospital near Dor. @AFPphoto: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 April 2017

SYRIA - Smoke rises from buildings following an air strike on Jobar, a rebel-held district on the outskirts of Damascus. Photo Ammar Suleiman: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 April 2017

Displaced #Syrian children who fled the #IslamicState stronghold of #Raqqa arrive at a temporary camp in Ain Issa. Photo @Delilsouleman: image via Sunday Times Pictures @STPictures, 29 April 2017

Displaced #Syrian children who fled the #IslamicState stronghold of #Raqqa arrive at a temporary camp in Ain Issa. Photo @Delilsouleman: image via Sunday Times Pictures @STPictures, 29 April 2017

SYRIA - Displaced Syrians look through a hole in a wall at a temporary camp in the village of Ain Issa. Photo @Delillsouleman: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 April 2017

#Pakistan Labourers work at an iron factory in Lahore. Photo Arif Ali #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 29 April 2017


Relatives mourn a family member who died of #cholera at a temporary hospital in #Mingkaman Eastern Lakes States. Photo @AFPphoto #IDPs: image via Sunday Times Pictures @STPictures, 29 April 2017

#Pakistan Labourers pick tea leaves at the Dagapur Tea Garden on the outskirts of Siliguri. Photo @DIPTENDUTTA: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 30 April 2017

GAZA CITY - Palestinian street vendors use battery-powered lights as they sell corn during a power cut in Gaza City. Photo @mohmdabed: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 30 April 2017

Living hell is our backdrop

Scenes from President Donald Trump's appearance at the NRA Leadership Forum in Atlanta today: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 April 2017

Scenes from President Donald Trump's appearance at the NRA Leadership Forum in Atlanta today: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 April 2017

Scenes from President Donald Trump's appearance at the NRA Leadership Forum in Atlanta today: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 April 2017

Trump Day 8. 1/27/17. National Mall. March for Life. Living hell is our backdrop. Photo @StephenVoss @reduxpictures @PoliticoMag: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 29 April 2017

Scenes from President Donald Trump's appearance at the NRA Leadership Forum in Atlanta today: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 28 April 2017

 
If you watch the #GOPDebate without using Snapchat, you're doing it wrong. #prettyTrump #TrumpBunny: image via dana @shedana, 10 March 2016

If you watch the #GOPDebate without using Snapchat, you're doing it wrong. #prettyTrump #TrumpBunny: image via dana @shedana, 10 March 2016

Is it just me or does this Telus bunny look like Donald Trump? #DonaldTrump #TrumpBunny: image via Kimmer @KimmerAird, 24 January 2016

 

#trumpbunny: image via Charles Wendt @swissbrewer, 13 November 2016

Woken up on a balcony from a massive night and the house owners have come home... #TrumpBunny #Trump...: image via Phil @skills guiding, 17 April 2017

In the Swamp: Scene 6

LAKE MICHIGAN

End of September.

Woodland. SHLINK. MARIE.

MARIE: The trees seem draped with human dung, the sky near enough to touch, how indifferent it leaves me! I'm freezing. I'm like a half-frozen quail. I can't help myself.

SHLINK: If this will help you: I love you.

 

MARIE: I threw myself away. Oh, my love has become such a bitter fruit. Others have their good season when they love, but I wither here, I fret my life away. My body is defiled.

 

SHLINK: Tell me it's all over with you, it will relieve your feelings.

 

MARIE: I went to bed with a man who is like an animal. I gave myself to him many times, though my whole body was numb, and I couldn't get warm.

 

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956): from Im Dickicht der Städte [In the Thicket of Cities], 1921-1923, translated by Eric Bentley as In the Swamp, 1961 
 

#trump #trumpbunny: image via chisthebarker @christhebarker, 18 April 2017

#USA A woman holds signs during the People's Climate March in Chicago. Photo @joshua_lott: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 30 April 2017

Today Donald Trump becomes the 1st pres. to address NRA annual meetings since Reagan in 1983. #gettyimagesnews: image via scott olson @olson_getty, 28 April 2017