Natural Mythology

Pristine nature’s not the problem
Myth, unnatural humans is.
The myth of wilderness was birthed

By the myth wilderness isn’t
Wherever humanity is,
And that myth still persists. Humans,

Naturally, are source and target
Of both myths, which, like all the myths,
Are at best mutualistic,

More probably parasitic,
Within the human narrative
Machinery of mind from brains.

Now, thanks to archaeology
And assorted technologies
(Artificial! Humanity!),

The word is beginning to spread
That pristine nature has been myth
For as long as humans have been.

Indigenous peoples managed
Those forest primevals, hunters
And gatherers reshaped the land,

Etc. No wilderness,
That means. Nature never could be
Pristine where humans intervened.

It’s fun to discover humans
Have always been ants, but humans
Did not fall onto this planet

After a black hole spit bipeds.
Nature invented Earth’s peoples
Who naturally invented myths.