Windward Review Volume 19 (2021): Empathy and Entropy
"Empathy and Entropy" is the 2021 theme of WR creative journal, a not-for-profit publication based out of Texas A&M U.-Corpus Christi. Empathy and Entropy is a collection of voices, art, and statements that all cohere into a complex narrative. Read, view, and appreciate how visual artists and multi-genre writers build up the story of 2021 - or should I say 'a story of 2021'? You, the reader, are invited to have your own interpretation of 2021, empathy and entropy, and the meanings of these terms.
"Empathy and Entropy" is the 2021 theme of WR creative journal, a not-for-profit publication based out of Texas A&M U.-Corpus Christi. Empathy and Entropy is a collection of voices, art, and statements that all cohere into a complex narrative. Read, view, and appreciate how visual artists and multi-genre writers build up the story of 2021 - or should I say 'a story of 2021'? You, the reader, are invited to have your own interpretation of 2021, empathy and entropy, and the meanings of these terms.
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Beauty As An Invasive Species
For the feral swans of Houston
Katherine Hoerth
What to do when beauty’s on the loose?
In the chaos of that hurricane,
the flood rushed in and swept the swan away
from the hotel fountain and her mate
with a force like love or lust or nature,
all equally destructive. Mute, with wings
clipped and useless, who would have thought such beauty
could survive the wilds of this city?
Now beauty’s leaving feathers everywhere
scattered like white stars across the darkness
of the night. Now beauty’s turning tawny
with the mud and dust of Houston’s streets.
Now beauty’s found her voice again—she’s hissing.
Now beauty’s learning to defend herself
with a beak that’s more than ornamental.
Now beauty fills her belly and devours
musk grass, water lilies, arrowhead.
Now beauty stretches out her milky wings,
takes up more space within this crowded city.
Now beauty’s brooding in the bayou’s crooks,
displacing spoonbills, cormorants, herons.
Now beauty’s getting ornery, aggressive—
ruining picnics and romantic strolls.
She’s feral, nesting in the city parks;
she’s hatching chicks whose wings were never clipped.
Beauty’s daughters soon take to the sky
and fly above this city with its smog.
Now beauty’s on the loose. She’s blending in
with clouds, migrating as her heart desires.
Oh dear, our world will never be the same.
Hunters of southeast Texas, grab your guns.
It’s open season for these feral swans.
Beauty on her own’s a dangerous thing.
Windward Review: Vol. 19 110
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