“Each one of us matters, has a role to play, and makes a difference.” — Jane Goodall, The Book of Hope (2021)
Jane Goodall traveled alone in Gombe, save for the man who
filmed a young Englishwoman slipping into the African land-
scape as easily as a ray of light between the sparse canopy of
an acacia tree. Clad in a khaki shirt and shorts, she could have
been Eve exiled from the Garden of Eden, aware but uncaring
of venomous snakes that slithered around her, the bitter taste
of forbidden fruit, all but forgotten. Doing what she was meant
to do, Jane believed nothing could harm her (as she often said)
and nothing did as she moved through grasslands, woodlands,
steep valleys, and rocky slopes, crossing streams and climbing
trees while trying to find the chimps. Instead, she saw brightly-
colored birds and butterflies, bushbucks and other wildlife as
she searched, month after month with no chimpanzees in sight.
But finally, her patience was repaid by a male dubbed David
Greybeard. And after him there were others, Goliath, Flo, and
Fifi, defying scientists who claimed chimps were incapable of
empathy, happiness, or grief, labeled them by numbers instead
of names. But let’s not travel just yet, to what Jane would learn
and what good she would do in the future, this kind and gentle
woman, as brave as anyone ever born. You have only to see her
lovely face on film as David, rather than running away, ignores
her presence while eating figs—to know this moment was the
apex of her young life, a dream that began with a toy monkey
her father gave her instead of a bear. For now, I’d rather think
of Jane Goodall sitting still as a hill or a stone while watching
the chimps—her expression of joy and wonder akin to Eve’s
if she’d been welcomed back to Paradise and at last, forgiven.
Terri Kirby Erickson is the author of seven full-length collections of poetry, including Night Talks: New & Selected Poems (Press 53), which was a finalist for (general) poetry in the International Book Awards and the Best Book Awards. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspapers, including “American Life in Poetry,” Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, JAMA, ONE ART, Poetry Foundation, Rattle, The SUN, The Writer’s Almanac, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verse Daily, and many more. Among her numerous awards are the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Nautilus Silver Book Award, Tennessee Williams Poetry Prize, and the Annals of Internal Medicine Poetry Prize. She lives in North Carolina.
