#1 

Nothing ethical has a

barcode. 

 

Bruised fruits beg

empathy under ripe fruits

beg inquiry. 

 

My consumption = ignorance

of 

 

the drought that never touched

me the fire that never

swallowed me the smog that

never choked me. 

 

No excuses; no exemptions.

Nothing ethical has a

barcode.

 

When you start

thinking in

ecology you

forget how to

speak bullshit. 

 

and even if

you never

watch the

news 

 

you can still

notice that the

goldenrod

blooms earlier

each year. 

 

and even if you don’t

reuse your ziplocks 

 

you can still wonder

everyday: “Does the Earth

forgive me?” 

 

and even if you

didn’t vote

green 

 

you can still ask the wild

grasses what is their wealth?

and why don’t you seem to

have it? 

 

and even if

you take

baths ride

planes eat

pork and wear

plastic 

 

you can still

explore the

possibility of

leaving the world

more nourished

than you found it 

 

because

even if 

you belong to a

system you didn’t

create 

 

you can still be

seduced by an affair

with spontaneity. 

 

and even if you profit from

your place on a ladder

that you were forced to

climb you can still

remember what it is to be

a part of everything and a

master of nothing.

---

MARY LOEHR is an undergraduate student living in Colorado. Her greatest passions are creative writing, nature-based education, and local food systems. She finds the deepest happiness in life to be walking in the forest with her dog. She has been published in The Social Justice Review and several local zine publications.