I dream of a world where love holds sway, life is nurtured, and mutually beneficial relationships—human & human and human & more-than-human—are the norm. The Symbiocene is what needs to follow the Anthropocene if humans are going to survive, and not turn out to be an evolutionary cul-de-sac. I write poems and prose that have their eye on that world.
I’m a breast cancer survivor and was diagnosed very late with autism. I also have ADHD and chronic illness(es), but mostly enjoy life except for the unnecessary suffering of others caused by human cruelty. I very much hope to see an end to the reign of terror currently being inflicted on the world by the Epstein class.
I’m part of the Mohawk, Potawatomi, and Irish diasporas. I’m 2-Spirit, meaning I’m non-binary, and appreciate when folks use they/them pronouns to refer to me. My given name was Wendy, but it’s been demoted to my middle name and I now go by Ember. I’ve been married to my husband, the psychiatrist and author Brian Dale Babiak, MD for almost 35 years, and I serve as his editor.
We produced two amazing humans and now parent a tiny dog and tinier parrot. I garden for butterflies and hummingbirds, for the joy of it, and in hopes that his patients begin their healing before they even walk through the door to his office. Many of them see their first hummingbird through the window, over his shoulder.
Ember Babiak 