If you’re following my lunar calendar observance, today, on the full moon in my time zone, perhaps tomorrow in yours, it’s time to read another poem from Mary Oliver’s Twelve Moons. October’s full moon is the Hunter’s Moon, and the poem is Hunter’s Moon—Eating the Bear.
This strikes me as a very animistic poem, full of the reverence a hunter should feel for her prey. It acknowledges and expresses the thankfulness one ought to express to the animals whose lives sustain our own. The poem’s subject seems a bit odd to me, personally, as I’ve never eaten bear meat. Many do, and it’s supposed to be good, I’ve just never had the opportunity. When I think of hunted meat, my thoughts run more toward deer, moose, and grouse. Continue reading
