The Badger's Path
A Poem and Reflections on Rage and Loneliness
Savaging its way with gnarling shrieks, the badgering is upon the woods once more. With the might of all the world’s armies, any plant or rodent crossing on his path is a target for nuclear detonation. The furor of his fission, ripping grand fissures and never slowing down for any obstacle. He must be so alone, that badger, tearing through the garden at 2am at night, going through all the same motions, again, and again, and angrily again. Is he heartbroken, wearing his woes as snarling stripes upon his body, destined to become stripes on the road?
The Badger’s Path ~ A Poem by Tom Shaw
This poem comes, largely unedited, from a poetry workshop I was at some months ago, not long after the Bournemouth Writing Festival. Somehow, during the conversation that arose during the workshop we were in, the topic of badgers came up, and as we moved into the final writing exercise of the session, I took that idea and worked it into this piece.
The badger in question really did used to tear through the garden of my childhood home in the early hours of the morning, and having a room at garden level, the security light going on outside would often wake me up. I never witnessed him being particularly vicious, but badgers are known to be, especially when cornered or attacked. That idea influenced the last part of the poem, inviting readers to ask whether they are witnessing the same in themselves and in others around them.
And since writing that piece, it seems significant portions of the United Kingdom - my birth country - decided to answer that with “yes”.
For those unaware, following media reports on the stabbing of a number of young girls at a Taylor Swift concert, the UK began experiencing a huge surge in violent anti-Islamist protests - and counter protests. There are many aspects to what I’ve seen that invites questions and even criticisms, including the acting history of the perpetrator, the false confluence with Islam, the ties of some of the agitators of protests and riots to Israel at a time of mass pro-Palestinian marches in the UK… and so forth. I retweeted Maajid Nawaz’s take at the time, who has long been fighting a good fight for individual liberty (and the past few years being no exception), and said it well:
His full dispatch that he did for Substack is also well worth a read:
It seems apparent to me that there is a deliberate attempt here by vested interests to stoke race riots in the UK, likely as an excuse to bring in restrictions on free speech and to impose greater surveillence and Digital IDs.
Yet, I am sure there are well-meaning and genuine people who may have gotten involved with either side of these riots. The deliberate destruction of native community and culture within the UK is real, and part of it does lie in having excessive migration (both legal and illegal) without integration. It also has to do with the destruction of family units, loss of individual sovereignty, conditioning through “education” systems, and so much more. And all by design. The very-real cultural conflicts that emerge within communities as a by-product, such as grooming gang scandals, then help perpetuate the attacks on the individuals and their communities even further. When everything is being taken away from them, and police either do nothing at best, or quash anyone from even speaking about it at worst, no wonder people get incited to rage, like a badger would being cornered by a predator.
I have always had a coping mechanism of inflicting the rage of my traumas on myself internally, rather than letting it out through rioting or attacks on others. In the instances where somebody overstepped a boundary (that I never properly articulated!), I would always blame myself rather than consider that the other person may have their own shit stirring internally that comes out in their actions. “Why am I like this for them to treat me this way?” and “What’s wrong with me?” were common thoughts in my head in such circumstances. I’ve been able to re-channel that rage over years of inner work (which manifests in my writing) and receiving great mentoring with Over to the Youth, amongst other things.
But anger - which when wielded improperly becomes rage - still exists within me as a primal emotion, and I believe it’s impossible to live without it. Seeing people who externalise their rage in response to the culture and society attacking them, as opposed to the internalisation that I experienced, is not something I have first-hand experience of. But I still know the rage. And knowing how far it went to destroy me, I fear what its externalisation will do to society. Sadly, I think countries like the UK are only just seeing the beginning. But there are small pockets of grassroots activity that at least give me faith that some will be there to pick up the pieces when the destruction lays off. Time will reveal all, and I am surrendering to that understanding that what happens culturally and with others, to a large extent, is out of my control. You will find me focusing on what I can control and improve in myself, and sharing that with others. Which is why this piece comes to you today, and I hope it has illuminated something within you.
New Poetry Workshop Dates
I’m incredibly excited to announce I’ll be aiming to run my “Basecamp” online poetry workshop once a month!
Come join me for a 1hr 30min workshop, where we use poetry as a vehicle for exploring the challenges we’re facing in our lives - and how we can create the right environment for us to overcome those challenges.
The previous sessions I’ve run on this have all been highly successful, and the participants all got a lot out of it - even those who don’t consider themselves poets or writers! There’s only a limited number of spaces available for each session, and you can use the button below to book on to the session.
Significant time and effort that goes in to preparing and planning these sessions, so if you’d like to help support them to continue, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You also get access to my entire back-catalogue, exclusive essays, and digital copies of all my books - and it helps me keep writing and putting on these sessions.
Thank you all for your wonderful support and I can’t wait to bring more to you soon.
With gratitude,
Tom
A beautiful poem and reflective, insightful thoughts and ideas. I completely agree with your point about how society deals with our traumas, being misdirected by malicious higher powers. It's also nice to see more people my age becoming aware of it; sadly, it doesn't happen often :)