Hazard, Home

Room is made for martens when time hollows a hemlock:

the arborists’ hazard, home to more scufflers and singers.

It’s the dying that reinvigorates; roosts, rests, hidden shelters,

clinging of bat claw under flap of loose bark.

Hazard, Home is a tribute to both wonder and grief for Earth’s inhabitants and systems. With admiration for the land holders (trees) and inhabitants of the rainforest, wetlands and oceans of her home, former Tofino Poet Laureate Christine Lowther delves into the pressing issues of urbanization, climate change, and loss of biodiversity while expressing her deep concern for those feathered, furred, webbed, and rooted. Hazard, Home is set apart from traditional nature poetry by its decolonial lens which pays tribute to stolen lands as well as displaced people and cultures. Lowther’s words are both startling and reflective as she bears witness to the devastating impact of our presence on the natural world. Through her evocative writing, Lowther inspires us to celebrate the beauty of nature while recognizing the urgent need for change.

AUTHOR

Christine Lowther

Christine Lowther resides in ƛaʔuukwiiʔatḥ (Tla-o-qui-aht) territory on the west coast. She is the editor of Worth More Standing: Poets and Activists Pay Homage to Trees and its youth companion volume. Author of three poetry collections, in 2014 she was presented with the inaugural Rainy Coast Award for Significant Accomplishment. Christine’s memoir, Born Out of This, was shortlisted for the 2015 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. In 2016 Christine won first place in the creative non-fiction category of the Federation of British Columbia Writers Literary Writes contest. She served as Tofino’s Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2022.