Clarion Reminder

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By Laura Grace Weldon

The powerful provoke the powerless
to push against one another.
Their power grows by keeping us
in all kinds of prisons.

Yet we are not powerless.

Remember the black bear
roaming Clarion County, Pennsylvania,
its head trapped a month or more
in a metal-ringed pail.

Remember those who chased it for hours,
grabbed it in a perilous embrace,
carefully sawed loose those tight bonds.

Imagine what they felt as the bear
ran free into the woods.

Imagine too, the bear.


Laura Grace Weldon is the author of the poetry collections Blackbird (Grayson Books, 2019) and Tending (Aldrich Press, 2013), as well as a handbook of alternative education titled Free Range Learning (Hohm Press, 2010). Laura’s background includes teaching nonviolence, writing collaborative poetry with nursing home residents, and facilitating support groups for abuse survivors. She works as a book editor and also leads workshops on memoir, poetry, and creative thinking. She lives with vast optimism on a small farm where she’d get more done if she didn’t spend so much time reading library books, cooking weird things, and singing to livestock. Connect with her at lauragraceweldon.com or @earnestdrollery

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