I found this in Mark Penner's field notes and can use it on the first page of the novel prior to chapter one of The Last Grain of Rice, which begins with the confrontation at the lumber barrier...
I think Penner has nailed it!
The Last Grain of Rice
in the Garden of Eden
From the depths of the equatorial rain forest
The long call full of power, majesty,
confidence,
mastery,
crickets sound in all direction,
the rasp of earth on the jungle floor
feet firmly anchored
looking up at obscene angles to
verdun canopy
lush, thick, infinite,
a clatter of a diesel from a distant klotok
on a winding muddy river
passing Nipa Palms in the humid
thick air,
the endless cicada buzz long buried,
swarm of endless weaver ants
like termites, a delicacy.
the pensive eyes stare into the night,
the texture of a singular leaf,
folding delicately into a nest,
the sound of a song bird,
the hidden treasure of the neesia,
a small leathery finger coyly entends,
a message of friendship,
high and safe from boar and snake,
impish brown eyes have seen
the poacher’s evil
as habitat destroyed daily,
vocalizations:
the kiss squeak, grump and lark,
of the lone male orangutan,
sunlight falls with a gentle touch,
life abundant
the pagan shaman’s soul
the sodden passion
of the monsoon’s insanity.
The Shamon’s soul,
The Long Call
that ecocsystem, those species,
that civilization
ALL
the last "grain of rice" in the Garden of Eden
Excerpt from Mark Penner’s field notes
