Ursula le Guin rocks

Totem
Mole my totem
mound builder
maze maker
tooth at the root
shaper of darkness
into ways and hollows
in grave alive
heavy handed
light blinded

(Ursula le Guin, 1979 from 'Buffalo gals and other animal presences' 1987)
I really liked this brief book of poems and stories, with an animal theme - the characteristics in us which are akin to those in animals, our relationship with non-human animals, the imaginary lives of animals. I'm digging stories with wolves as main characters. It's funny, because in our culture it is seen as infantile and only feminine to be interested in animals in a mythological / symbolic sense (ie in any way which is not entirely materially self serving and dominating), but in so many cultures a healthy respect for and interest in animals helped provide a story about how the world worked and what is mysterious and magical about being alive. Joseph Campbell writes lots about this in his book 'Myths to Live by' (and no doubt in his other books too but its the only one of his that I've read) and muses on the functional role that these and other myths play for people,in giving a sense of meaningful story to our lives. When I was little I loved animal books - Wind in the Willows, Cuddlepot and Snugglepie (with lots of lizards and other folk), even Waterbabies I think had fishie people in it. It seemed to make sense atthat age to be aware of the characters of animals, to talk with them, to see them as other, different, people populating the world along side us. Of course as an adult in an industrial consumer capatilst society that is seen as ludicrous, indulgant and pretty much bonkers.