The Foolish at Night
Sylvia Shawcross
The foolish-hearted people exist in this world more than we really know. The foolish-hearted people do foolish-hearted things because their heart has its own language and sense of life that others do not understand.
The foolish-hearted person feeds a stray raccoon when the skies are smeared with smoke and the night feels mean-spirited to the wild things because they know things that others do not know. But it is not a judgment call at all that others do not know. It is simply a fatalistic recognition of a nature that had no choice.
The foolish-hearted person, two weeks later, is feeding 14 raccoons and a skunk.
And the critters in their quest scratch and scrabble at the window and growl with each other outside the door like demons in the dark and yet the foolish-hearted person carries on. Because the foolish-hearted person knows it is simply in the nature of some wild things to spit and squeal and snarl and when daybreak finally spills into morning, the screaming banshees will be gone.
But the foolish-hearted always stop and asks themselves, in discovery at the light of the day when the pots and the wood and the debris of the deck have been tossed and thrown about in the night, “What the fuck am I doing?” That’s what the foolish-hearted people always ask themselves. In the light of day.
But then the night comes again, and the moon-cloaked scavengers scamper to the food as if it was their only reason to be on the earth at all. For the feeding from the foolish-hearted. And there will always be the one elected, who with sad black eyes and scrubby ears will reach his soft grey hands to yours and catch your soul again as if his gesture is a gratitude, a recognition, an I-thou and not a curiosity. Is it perhaps a prayer?
The foolish-hearted makes magic of supposition in the night but wonders about rabies in the morning. Yet such practicality of thought has no place when the scratches at the window begin. And the door opens to a sea of musky fur and black-eyed wild things that all stare at you from behind their masks. Their God-given masks. Not those other masks.
And they are then your children. The ones no one else wants. And there are as many reasons of the heart to carry on then than there ever were reasons of the practical mind at this point. It seems like a ridiculous question to ask, “what the fuck am I doing” when they are looking at you there, the orphans of a sooty sky draped in the tragedy of the ages.
But then the morning always comes. Doesn’t it? The foolish-hearted hates the morning. The foolish-hearted walks around outside the house fearfully, making sure there are no holes leading to the attic and no raccoon scat by the goldenrod and wonders at their own sanity.
But it is not insanity at all. It is simply that in darkness, the only thing we can see is the colours of our inner beings. And that makes some of us foolish-hearted. So what.
There are only four raccoons now. The autumnal skies have scattered the children to the wild. A soul spark of me is with them there out where the wild things sing.
The skunk, however, remains, having chased away two delivery men and a handyman. He is my guard-skunk. I’m rather fond of him at this point.
I’m not the only foolish-hearted person:
Earworm of the day:
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Here in NZ, possums are the bete noir. A friend lays traps in his garden because his wife doesn’t like them eating her roses. I called in one morning, and there was this little possum looking out with big scared eyes. My friend went off to fetch his rifle to dispatch the port little chap. In the interim, the little possum looked me in the eye as if seeking reassurance: I lied and said that it won’t really hurt, you’ll be OK etc. I don’t know whether little possum believed me, and then the bullet put an end to all such speculation. I suspect my credibility among possums will have been dented…
I’d have sympathy but for the fact that the possum was eating the roses and not the squashes. We kill for beauty do we now? I understand possums are a nightmare in NZ. But still….
Hi Syl. I think it quite charming that a furry creature enjoys eating such fragrant flowers: it must have a sweet breath. I don’t think that the possum’s desire to improve his chances with lady possums should earn him the bullet. They are considered a pest because they also kill native birds and lizards…
maybe?
do you realise how much native fauna was/is eradicated , cue… “vermin control” or reduced yields, e.g.? destroyed ecosystems? imbalance… check out loss of prime predators effect on landscapes, or the engineering of rivers that exclude the “sea” load of e.g. salmon on the highest watersheds..
seriously,
spare me the “vermin” tales, I know of the MILLIONS of native lives taken historically and currently through “gamekeeping”, agribusiness and vermin. An excuse to destroy all life other than the main Crop(s) and interests.
I live in such a wet desert.
The vermin stand on two legs, arguably.
[i get “vermin” control in the house and garden, everything beyond that is habitat.]
Cats and dogs of course do no such harm.
This incident confirms in no uncertain terms that violence is humanity’s default position to anything which displeases it. Don’t like it – kill it!
New Zealanders don’t like opossums – kill ’em! Ruling elites don’t like most people – kill ’em!
What a way to live!
The possum was introduced into NZ. A country that has been massively deforested and populated with humans,dogs,cats sheep, cattle alpacas and so on.
You might think I’m making this up – and I wish I were.
After 22 years of not seeing a single raccoon in my neighborhood, I finally saw one this morning while I was walking the dog.
It was lying in the middle of the road, dead.
I’ve seen many squirrels in that condition, and a couple cats, even a couple foxes – but never a raccoon till today.
All land animals, big and small, have a natural born enemy: cars.
humans too, but we ban air rifles instead of cars??
the slaughter on the roads is plain blood tribute.
appalling.
Raccoons often get annihilated by vehicles because they are nocturnal (not the vehicles, the raccoons) and more susceptible to the mysteries of the night.
A raccoon kept as a pet has a liftespan of up to 20 years but in the wild only up to about 4.
My sister had told me once that feral cats generally had a lifespan of about 5 years. She had built one a little house on her carport – which a couple foxes kept eyeing. She remembered him as a kitten so she knew about how old he was – around 5. One day he simply never showed up again.
I had a battle of wits with a raccoon 50 years ago regarding my trash. He won.
They will always win I’ve found.
I had a dear friend and colleague that recently passed away from leukemia. He was a producer of note in the television animation field, and we worked together on several projects back in the day (he producing and directing, and me composing music.) He was one of those rare people in Hollywood that actually was artistically talented and still had a soul…rare because most people that reach his stature has lost his or her soul, and probably never was all that talented.
I bring him up because he was foolish hearted, and particularly loved raccoons, and had a rather large following that he nurtured in the backyard of his “forest-in-the-mountains-California” retreat. I miss him, and his foolish heart.
Raccoons
I saw coatis last month at the Pantanal in Brazil and also at the Iguassu falls.They are part of thr raccoon family. It is surprising that the dogs of suburban Montreal have aloowed raccoons and skunks to survive in their areas. I didn’t see any during my brief visit to that city in 2009.
The dogs are all managed on leashes and pooper scoopers and muzzles if needed… was that dogs I was talking about or people? I forget…
The way most people, pet owners, handle dogs are indicative of our need to control and dominate another being’s behaviour. An “obedient dog” is the preferred dog. The more obedient the better. Although it is, to some degree, important for a dog’s health to be somewhat controlled, the insistence of most owners to have total control over every aspect of their dog’s behaviour freaks me out. Humans are odd.
Amen to that. If nothing more, a dog should be allowed to have and to enjoy his or her own personality. And if, like my Chihuahua, he occasionally draws a little blood, all that means is that I didn’t get my hand out of his way in time – NOT that he should be taken at once to a dog “trainer.”
Ha! Agreed…mine like to bark and dig holes, much to my wife’s chagrin. The barking drives me nuts, but it is certainly minimal compared to what it could be. The holes are ok if not covering the yard, and easy to fill up. I like it that they are dogs first, and my companion second, and they know when it is important to switch that priority—and they make the choice when they deem appropriate.
I think too many people believe the nonsense that all dogs really want is to know “who is the Alpha.” Besides, they already know that: they are. They just let us pretend we’re the Alpha because they hate to see us cry.
Very good point!
aye, but,
have you seen some of the dogs out there? nevermind the physical ability of their “owners”? Holy fuck man, what are they (K9) gonna be eating when western society functionally collapses?
another blether, agreed, your point perhaps.. the humans lol
but, my point, when idiots with savage dogs prevail in public, you do need a dog that gets’ it and knows who has got it’s six, so to speak. I’ve always had working dogs, not toys. Dogs do need parameters, you do want a sensible dog that . . .. argh, listen to me, I will desist… ; ),
Ye know what I mean and yes Todd the human-imposed-(not had)child-life-existence of so many dogs’s and their owners is plain wrong. Freakish.
Lockdown was brilliant, there was hardly anyone/dog out there :/
Whats this then….a flat bottom tossa ethian tale ..Fair enough for thee hard of hat soo far distance of right here and now..a pity.
Cheers
I am clueless as to what you’re referring to Clive but that is okay. I suspect being in the right here and now is a place most of us would not want to be if we were given a choice.
I think Clive is a troupe of babboons with typewriters.
…or iPads…
I think he means: “What’s this then? A flat bottom toss of a Promethean tale (a creative mixture like an original mixture of vegs tossed in a flat bottom wok)? Fair enough for the hard of hearts so far away from right here and now …”
Genuis.
The real puzzle is the three people (upvotes) who apparently understood what Clive was saying.
Human raccoons. A little Danish poem hanging in my ears since teenager:
https://youtu.be/liOIhBJAoRc
Nanna with the red mouth,
and long black nails,
She drinks and is a little stupid,
so she is happy,
its so sad, its so sad, so they say
Nanna with the red mouth,
and long black mails,
She has two men and eight children,
so she is happy,
its so sad, its so sad, so they say
Nanna with the red mouth,
and long black nails,
She laughs and makes them laugh,
tell me what is wrong with that
its so sad, its so sad, so they say
So sad indeed. 🙂
Your honesty is what comes through most and so your self-judgement is not affected but very funny. I loved it.
And those little critters!
I’m not sure I grasp this one, Sylvia. I expect it has something to do with evil intrusive people and/all bureaucrats taking over our lives and how most of the rest of us try to ignore that it is happening. I’m not at all sure because I got lost in memories of relationships with animals, both wild and docile. I find it virtually impossible to NOT relate to (and talk to to and try to feed) animals. Except for ants, which for some unknown reason terrify me. I quack at ducks; I feed them bread ends, and yes, I do know it isn’t that good for them, but it IS whole grain bread and they only each get a little… Where was I? I always have had cats not dogs, but when people walk their dogs on my street, and since it is along a riverbank, lots of people walk… Read more »
Not to worry mjh, I don’t get it either. Just a snapshot really of no significance. Yes. These creatures are a source of so much good in this world mostly. Yeah… what does HE know… Blackbirds are extremely intelligent and communicative things. We are so fortunate to have these creatures carrying on their lives while we grapple with nonsense in the world.
I often don’t get stuff either, I seldom “get” poetry, but something deep in my soul DOES get it, and gets it profoundly. If you asked me to explain it, I couldn’t, but I know it, I feel it…
I love that you say here “I don’t get it either”…it is your soul that wrote it, you soul gets it…you just let it speak, most people don’t unfortunately.
Most of what I write I don’t get. It is a very scary thing sometimes because it is not as is I can summon at will what I’m going to write. It writes through me. Mostly I’ve found. Sometimes it makes no sense whatsoever to me or anyone else for that matter. But it is what it is, as they say.
Expressionless Babies, Bored Lovers
https://dailyclout.io/expressionless-babies-bored-lovers-and-other-changes-in-the-human-condition/
DR NAOMI WOLF
Horrible.
We clearly need to stop looking for symptoms, and concentrate on finding cures for the current insanity.
Drastic ones.
Make it the 110th time that will cure all of the current insanity.
It certainly would!
A very disturbing article and one that rings true. Something happened in 2020 that has not been understood. There was as change on a basic level way initiated by the covid scare but having effects that went beyond the obvious ones. Society itself seemed to change. People changed. Relationships changed. There was an old sense of trust and buoyancy that is no longer there. Nor was this a mere accidental or peripheral matter. The most fundamental part of the operation was the lockdown itself. It split people apart, isolated them, and stranded them before their televisions and radios, which then “reprogrammed” them. It was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers but, as it were, experienced from the inside i.e. you didn’t just see familiar ones “replaced” but felt that you too had been altered in some sinister way. The old confidence was gone. And the fiendishly clever propagandists knew exactly… Read more »
Covid was just a blip, nothing more; trannies a mere bleep. A divertissement designed to take our attention from the free fall of the entire global economic system.
When the most valuable thing in the world are derivatives – literally, non-existent concoctions – then it’s high time for the “ruling class” to send humanity to bed without supper until it’s told to come downstairs again. While the “rulers” attempt to find a band aid big enough to cover the gaping wound in human reality.
I understood it…immediately…when it happened in 2020, but I didnt understood why you sheep didnt understood it. It was so simple….and now we are close to 2024 and you have still not understood it, you are running in the butt of Naomi Wolf, a bell is ringing, ding ding ding Wolf ding ding ding Wolf ding ding ding. You still dont hear or see anything. . The only thing I can come up with is “Invasion of the body snatchers”, you know the film where a single woman is the last person on the planet with feelings. In the last scene of the film the only man (Donald Sutherland) she relied on to still to have feelings like herself, she discover he had been snatched too. Quite nasty to be left alone on the planet with feelings, and the rest are cold jerks and nerds. But as Elon Musk says:… Read more »
Heaven help us. What are we becoming ?
Ms. Wolf remains willfully blind to the physical and spiritual affects of 4G LTE and 5G on the human psyche. I read the article it’s day of release, and concluded 99% of her readers remain clueless regarding
massive increases
in electromagnetic broadcast paralleling the increase zombie-like symptomology.
The “spiritual” condition within human (and animal) species, is largely defined by extremely sensitive neurological signaling of “chi” within meridians and junctions. Electromagnetic broadcast noise has overwhelmed these inner connections and relationships. The behavioral deficits are obvious. Most commentators continue to blame cognitive decline on propaganda technique and “vaccination” status. No one wishes to address the functional issues at hand…
33 klaxon! indeed the whole thing is loaded with master numbers (11, 22, 55):
https://dumptheguardian.com/world/2023/sep/08/pirola-latest-covid-variant-spreading-in-uk-health-data-suggests
And is this making the causal connexion quite obvious enough for everyone?…
https://dumptheguardian.com/world/2023/sep/08/nhs-to-begin-autumn-covid-jabs-next-week-as-new-variant-spreads
People are getting pretty sick. In late August and early September. Before flu season. With something. Maybe it’s just a flu. Or maybe it’s germ warfare. But something is making people sick.
It’s mostly the jabbed getting sick.
Probably it’s all they’re spraying overhead which is settling down and being breathed in – along with the forest fire smoke and all the other pollutants in air, land and water that’s making people sick.
Whatever Joe,..Sumptuous position whereabouts or is it heresay. Further flu is non seasonal it’s infactic dead end 1968 chum. You mean in the US where it is important buddy America is Continental after all said and done.
Never underestimate the danger a fool can represent.
There are two kinds of “fools.” There’s the bad kind, who become everyone’s dupe. And there’s the good kind – like the “Fool On The Hill” – who many cultures consider the highest expression of humanity.
The Tarot Card – The Fool – expresses both. Does he not see the precipice he’s walking towards? Or is he simply not afraid of it?
foxes, i used to have a pet fox and its tame tribe that would come and sit on the shed roof and listen to my drivel.
Fox would eat out my hand, but a bit snappy.
I had a pet starling too, Wee Pal. fed out my hand gentler than the fox! Helped much through tough times, then flew away, wee hero.
Feral cats… they all got caught and gassed, but the tom escaped.. became my cat as i would feed him, cat had baws like chestnuts…. BB. He only let me pet him just the year before he never returned, he was stiff as a board, old box-heided, flat lugged thug thing he was. One tough hombre. Bless him.
You don’t want them i/on yer porch or back door though, just saying. Not cool.
is it not just caring?
(vermin are vermin, nonetheless.)
I’m amazed you got a fox to eat out of your hand. Oh I know its not cool having raccoons on my deck but just until winter. There are only four right now and they seem so frightfully hungry. They are not vermin. They are as intelligent as a four year old or seven year old or something. This is very obvious when you watch them long enough. They are clever little beasts indeed. Clever enough to have me idiot that i am feeding them.
och aye, a few raccoons ain’t vermin, but a dozen will become so??
the fox snapped the food out my hand, i feared for my fingers, but it was happy enough, would sit with me, 2 metres away for long time. The tribe came for another 2 years, skulked about… then i got the dog… : /
Love Life, when ye can x
A human becomes a fool when it denies the truth.
Better foolish than ghoulish Sylvia.
God knows they ravage our sanity.
I’m beginning to think everything is ravaging our sanity and the goal is to find anything that doesn’t these days.
Definitely the “ruling class” is ravaging our sanity: misery loves company.
I used to always think why are they being rewarded. Then it hit me (yesterday morning as I was eating my oatmeal): they’re not being “rewarded” with wealth and power – they’re being punished.
You know Howard. That is truth. Hard as it is to believe, it is indeed the truth.
And there’s an art to being foolish. A friend of my sisters way back when had rescued an opossum, as had other people she knew (apparently rescuing opossums was all the rage in the mid-80’s). Their rescues, unlike hers, nearly died till she set them straight – never give an opossum a boneless piece of chicken or it’ll eventually kill them because they need the bones to survive. As for me, I think the wild ones – even the stray cats – know I’m not foolish enough. I chased a cat away that was playing with and tearing apart a bird; but not knowing what to do with the bird I rescued (what do you do with a bird with a gaping wound in its back?), I called Animal Control. They came and got it, carrying away the shoe box and washcloth I had used for it. Then I fixed… Read more »
You must try being foolish Howard. It passes the time without being predictable. Just for fun.
No words.
Sometimes you think you are teetering on brink of going crazy and then you see that raccoon lady video.
Like a whiff of ammonia, you snap out of it!
Nice comment.