Two Cultures: Collection

Men and Frogs
as Two Cultures reference
below

Cogs in the wheels keep on turning

The golden toads were endemic
to a high mountain rain forest in Costa Rica.
Their habitat seemed pristine.
They disappeared,
and are now probably extinct.
In 1989 the Golden Toad Bufo periglenes
population dropped dramatically
and in 1990 the last of these magnificent animals were seen.

Facts

Scientists doing field research belong to a
culture based on gathered and accepted knowledge.
Facts stacked on facts.
These same people touch Mother Nature to reveal her secrets.
I know they grieve the loss.

Documentation

Scientists document change in amphbian populations.
The press comments on the Amphibian Decline.
Frog imagery in cultural artifacts is prevalent enough
but what about the people of the Ecuadorian parma
who lost their Jamabado, the scientists' A. Ignescens?
How do they recognize or document that change now?
Do the more remote cultures document changes
in their local frog populations?

Tactile Experience

Spring back into metamorphosis of sexual awareness
and the slippery slime of tadpoles cupped for instants
slithering in-between cupped fingers. The sensation of life
pushing wiggling deeper into the tingling folds of skin,
and they are gone washed away.
Or poured into a peanut butter jar and taken home
as a link to Mother Nature's slimy sweet-smelling brown-green water.

Sensual Experience

At that point of change from child to a sexually aware child
feeling myself become male and enjoying the hell out of it,
I lost reference on and gained curiosity of the female changes.
I approach this Two Cultures as a male.
Both sexes and all in-between have a common experience
recognizing physical change within them selves
tied loosely by metamorphosis to tadpoles the world around.

Differences

Men and women have different cultural reference points toward metamorphosis.
These biased views go back to pre-puberty transformation of our own bodies
in a time when we are discovering those parallel changes in Mother Nature.

Collection Jars

The natural history museum innermost sanctum specimen filled jars
hidden in total darkness.
When the lights come on the specimen have the opportunity
to be touched
...to be studied
...and to be awestruck.