In class, we thoroughly discussed the title of “Come into Animal Presence” and took apart the words. “Come” can be seen as an invitation, command, or request. “Animal” is specifically talking about alive things in nature and not just nature itself (ie. rocks, trees, water, grass). And “presence” is something spiritual, religious, and not physical, but a way of being in the world.

What I want to focus on is the animals that Levertov chose to use in the poem. There are four animals: serpent, rabbit, llama, and armadillo. There is a lot to say about serpents and rabbits because they are seen a lot in cultures. Serpents are associated biblically, mythologically, and Disney-movie-ly with a bad/evil connotation. There are little to no fables or stories that have the snake being a “good guy” or anything short of evil. However, Levertov focuses on the cunning and beauty of the snake. The snake is “guileless” and has “no blemish”. Being smart and not having acne seems like a pretty good deal to me, but people still think of snakes as bad.

Secondly, we have the rabbit. We see the rabbit as lucky (it’s foot on a key chain), with spring time (Easter Bunny… but who knows why),  and in a lot of disney movies (Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Bambi, Winnie the Pooh, and countless Disney Junior shows). The rabbit is popular in our culture. However, Levertov again focuses on a different aspect, its loneliness. Rabbits are actually well known for being social creatures.

But then we come to the llama and the armadillo and I am stumped. Why a llama and an armadillo? First thing that comes to mind with llama is wool and Peru. Llamas are notoriously beasts of burden in South America (kind of like horses are in other places, carrying humans stuff around). I doubt there are many wild llamas roaming the mountains of Peru, but there are many under human control.

First thing that comes to mind for armadillos is road kill. That again, is under human control. Armadillos are pretty cool. They have their own armor, they can roll up into balls, they apparently have leprosy (not cool but interesting). But all I can think of is road kill. Llamas and armadillos encounter humans way more than rabbits and snakes and yet they are included in part of this natural imagery of coming into an animal state of mind.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the choice of animals seems very random to me and the animals aren’t exactly mysterious to us.  She’s telling us to “come into animal presence”, but we kind of already have by including them in our lives. However, I guess the poem could be telling us to think about it from their point of view and not the points of views that I have previously stated. To think about how there is more to animals than how they are associated with and by humans. They are their own thing and we cannot limit them to what we have predetermined they are/can be.