When a neighbor congratulated me for my November article, I hadn’t reviewed it yet, so when I read it, I noticed that again my article was edited for grammar – specifically the use of the pronoun “ki”. As a writer who still holds the Oxford comma dear and tends to be a stickler for proper usage of words, I do not make changes in my style lightly. As someone who holds the Earth sacred, when I learned about the word ‘ki” to replace “It”, I immediately started using the pronoun.

I first learned of “ki” as a pronoun by reading work by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Robin states in a 2015 Yes! article that, “Grammar is how we chart relationships through language, including our relationship with the Earth…In indigenous ways of knowing, other species are recognized not only as persons, but also as teachers who can inspire how we might live.” She goes on to state that English needs a new word to reflect a respect for non-humans. Anishinaabe speaker and spiritual teacher Stewart King suggested “Bemaadiziiaaki” the proper Anishinaabe word for “beings of the living Earth.” “Ki”, nestled at the end of Bemaadiziiaaki, has come to be that word. Ki as a pronoun is slowly gaining traction but the pronoun is still not widely used. So please consider using ki (and plural kin or possessive kins) in replace of “it” when referring to your non-human neighbors.

I do not believe non-humans are its. A living being is not an object – they are a who, not a what. Just because we do not necessarily know their gender, or in the case of flora and fungi, may not have 1 gender, or in the case of a river may not have any gender, I use ki out of respect for my non-human neighbors. I also tend to capitalize beings’ names – yes, they may be the name we gave them: Wood Turtle, Mugwort, Oyster Mushroom, Hoosic River – but I feel it is important to distinguish living entities and ecosystems from objects such as chairs, cars, and baskets. When we know better, we can do better. This is a habit I am still adjusting to given that our English grammar doesn’t support this activity. So, let’s see how this “grammar of animacy” reads on paper…

Knock on Wood

In the Forest there is a large American Crow-sized woodpecker undulating through the air in search of dead trees. The Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus in Picidae, is one of New England’s residents whose diet comprises mainly of invertebrates but who will also forage for nuts and berries.  You may even observe ki visiting suet feeders to load up on fat and protein-dense seeds. Pileated Woodpeckers are black-feathered birds who sport a bright red crest with black and white stripes on their faces and so you might mistake them for a punk-rocker moshing among the leaves. The underside of their wings is white. And males possess an added red streak on their cheek.

To obtain their insect meal, they knock (and knock) on wood (Baby!). When you come across a large rectangular hole in a snag, these are the excavation efforts of Pileated Woodpecker. Due to the assumption that woodpeckers must have reinforced skulls to be able to pound all day without getting concussed, humans designed biomimicry-inspired shock-absorbing athletic helmets. Apparently though, avoiding concussions has more to do with possessing a small brain. With kins beak ki chisels the wood to get at juicy invertebrates. Think of the dead tree as a restaurant. And an apartment complex. Because not only will Pileated Woodpecker excavate a hole for food, but these spaces are also used for nests.

Some of you may remember a certain cartoon – Woody Woodpecker – who was supposed to resemble a Pileated Woodpecker. Woody’s laughing song is not overly accurate a call. Kins call is more of a rapid high pitched long series of “gek gek gek gek gek”.  Shorter calls indicate a warning or a territorial boundary. In addition to kins calls, both males and females drum – not quite like a human punk-rock performer though – more of a rolling burst lasting a few seconds, pausing, and then repeating. Though watching them drum you might think kin were at a concert, thrashing to music only they can hear.

So while you are out there in the Forest watching and listening for Pileated Woodpecker, practice a grammar of animacy and compassion by adopting ki/kin/kins pronouns to refer to our wild neighbors. Thank you!

Ki/Kin Resources:
Nature Needs a New Pronoun: To Stop the Age of Extinction, Let’s Start by Ditching “It” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2015
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
An Argument For All New Pronouns: “We are Ki. We are Kin.” by Christyl Rivers, Phd., 2020
More on Ki and Kin Pronouns: Indigenous Culture, Nature Relationships, Pronouns By Kara Huntermoon

Woodpecker Resources:
Cornell Lab All About Birds
Woodpeckers Don’t Have Shock-Absorbing Skulls (new study) by Margaret Osborne, 2022

Arianna Alexsandra Collins, naturalist, poet, writer, wild edible enthusiast, and Wiccan High Priestess.

An edited version of this article appeared in the January 2024 edition of The Ashfield News.

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