Skunk in the Wilderness

I believe in God when I see a dandelion pressing through the rupture in the pavement. A tiny golden sun forcing its way through the darkness, hell-bent on growing. Recognizing the sacred in the everyday, protecting an ailing earth, opening to wonder-these reflections, along with contemplations on the importance of poop, skunks, monarch butterflies, and even bacteria became the urgent subjects of poems written in the space of a few weeks in the winter of 2020-2021. Skunk in the Wilderness reflects the global concerns of that moment in history, in the midst of the pandemic, as well as the personal concerns of the poet's relationship to his ageing parents and his own life path. Louis Gignac writes passionately and provocatively of the need to protect the earth and connect to nature, with a multitude of subthemes, ranging from relationships to pollution, and from screen addiction to water fasting. Skunk in the Wilderness is above all about becoming conscious. . . . Inspiration: I know I need it. Can't live without it. I'm always searching for it. Can I offer it to you?