What Part of the Earth Is Inhabited Erin Espelie, 2009

The oldness and youthfulness of the earth are wonderful. Robert Walser, 1925 Boletus, amaryllis, anolis, listeria, wisteria, nematoceara: nothing is linear in evolution, nor in life nor in light. We radiate out on waves, then flux along the spokes of an orbweavers web, the barbs of a boundary fence. Species in a constant state of exchange: elements, acids, sugars, viruses, ideas. The way a lichen exists as a single unit, and yet functions as two classifiably distinct creatures, a fungus and an algae (or a cyanobacteria). Who inhabits who, and who is who Defined by readings and voyages made, people dead and loved, we recombine. The speck we have to live onas Pliny the Elder called the livable part of our planethas grown even smaller.