Dustin Marley Hackfeld: "The Ecology of a Moment"
He is pursuing a B.A. in Literary Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He has been published in Frogpond, The Heron’s Nest, tsuri-dōrō, Switchgrass Review, Humana Obscura, and Mays Publishing. His work is an exploration of earth-consciousness– the intra-acting, polyphonic, entanglement of all life forms. He lives in Ingleside, Texas with his wife, daughter, cat, two dogs, and a yard full of flourishing weeds.
Meet him this Monday, September 16, at 3:30 pm at a free workshop entitled "The Roots of Meaning: Breath, Light, and the Sound of Being". This workshop is open to the public and takes place at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, O'Connor building room 118.
When asked about his inspiration, Hackfeld shared: "I like to imagine that my poems are doorways out of normative epistemologies and into the ecology of a moment— a place where the body is awake to and immersed in the flux of all beings (animate, inanimate, human and more-than-human). I do not have a profound artist’s statement to promulgate; rather, I proffer my body’s awakened moments, often short-lived but deeply and spontaneously experienced. When I sit down to shape these firefly-openings into sound and rhythm, I am fully aware that what transpires is akin to translation: I can only hope my choice of words smolder with the light of what has passed through me."
Hackfeld will be published in Volume 22: Revolution which will be available this October 2024. Enjoy a sample of their poetry below.
generation
one
day my
fleshy and
boned being will
loosen in humic
fire. i will breathe deep roots
and green a patch of earth from
which the grazing bovine will gain
sustenance. cud and cowchip may well
be my future. let me be the pastime
of a heifer’s leisure. when i fall to earth
again, i will parasol the dung beetle
with fungal glow and souleye the seeker
with bright psilocybin vision. death
will be the rainbow: i will no
longer be: washed clean of sleep:
awake like morning fog,
gathering water
into a tongue
to carol
all that’s
gone
cicada
chthonian nymphs
are shedding veils
in a rain of roots
listening
to the cycles of sun
ticking seeds of water
through the humic sky
dancing to the screaming beat of summer
Photo: weed by zer