Earth Loyalty & Bioregional Practice
Selected Writings of Fred Cervin
by New Haven - Quinnipiac Bioregional Group, 2015
Publisher: New Haven Bioregional Publications
ISBN 978-0-9908460-0-0
90 pages, 9"x 6" format $12
From the book's preface by Mark Mitsock:
"Fred Cervin believed that the relation of the human species to the natural world is in a state of crisis, and that this crisis has both a practical and spiritual dimension. The practical and the spiritual are typically thought to operate on separate planes, but in Fred's vision they
are seamlessly blended ..."
It's obviously from his very first poem "Three Medicine Songs" that Fred Cervin was a dedicated bioregionalist and activist who walked his talk.
In 2005 he co-founded the New Haven Bioregional Group in his local New Haven, Connecticut to put his ideas into action. Fred died in August 2013, but the Group is carrying on his work and perpetuating Cervin's life-place ideas and actions by producing this book of his writings for all of us and future generations.
Again and again throughout Earth Loyalty & Bioregional Practice, Cervin is resolute in his dedication to honoring the Earth and living in harmony with ALL of its occupants. In his Earth Loyalty As A Spiritual Orientation / Queen of My Heart he strongly urges everyone to make a vow to the Earth to live with love, consideration and respect in each of our places
as he does in his.
Cervin's poems are lyrical and filled with his heartfelt connection with the land, they strongly flow together in clearly presenting a variety of vitally important aspects of his life view. In his prose, he provides his thoughts on the critical state of the environment and its causes while also offering solutions, i.e. from growing one's own food to redefining our sense of who we are as humans, to reestablishing mutually beneficial relationships with the Earth
and everyone inhabiting the planet to rebuilding and maintaining strong communities in which communication, cooperation...as well as good home grown meals...are engaged in
and shared by all community members.
The context of Cervin's poems and prose resides in his awareness of and distress at the current state of the planet and how Earth continues to be plundered by profit-seeking individuals and corporations. This is Fred Cervin's wake up call to all of us to step back from our consumerism and reconnect with Mother Earth who freely provides everything
that we need. It is an urgent plea on his part and well worth our focused attention and
active participation.
by Jean Lindgren
Reprinted here with the permission of Planet Drum PULSE where this
review originally appeared in their Spring/Summer 2016 issue.
Planet Drum, PO Box 31251, SF, CA 94131
