My CommonPlace

In “The Language of Animals” (Wild Earth Summer 1998), Barry Lopez says: “I am alert for the luminous event, for evidence of a world beyond the rational…. I seek … the view of an indigene. And what draws me ahead is the possibility of revelation of other indigenes — the testimonies of wild animals…. I grew up in a farming valley in southern California …. The first wild animals I encountered … I came upon in the surrounding mountains and deserts. These creatures seemed more vital than domestic animals. They seemed to tremble in the aura of their own light …. Wild animals are lean. They have no burden of possessions, no need for extra clothing, eating utensils, elaborate dwellings. They are so much more integrated into the landscape than human beings are, swooping its contours and bolting down its pathways with bewildering speed. They travel unerringly through the dark. Holding their gaze, I saw the intensity and clarity I associated with the presence of a soul.”