“We sense there is some sort of spirit that loves birds and the animals and the ants—
perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you in your mother’s womb.
Is it logical you would be walking around entirely orphaned?”—Kabir, trans. by Robert Bly

Robert Bly made this fairy tale, known as “Iron Hans” by the Brothers Grimm, a cornerstone of the men’s movement in 1990. This story offers a poetic opportunity to reflect on the wounds inflicted by patriarchy that is still timely and important, and extends beyond the needs of contemporary men into the common psychic territory of masculine and feminine, civilized and wild, and the shadow cast by culture.

The images this story evokes in me are beautiful and powerful and I hope it provides the same for you.

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