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Transcript

A Poem for Earth Day

April 22, 2024 | Elizabeth Street Garden, NYC
Sharing spoken word in celebration of Earth Day and National Poetry Month alongside and several other remarkable talents at Elizabeth Street Garden. Gardens and parks are the lungs of our city, and havens like this must be protected at all costs.
Human-catalyzed climate change is plaguing our planet and it may seem like a herculean task to tackle. Yet, there are small ways we can show up for our home. Support your local community gardens and spaces. Donate. Volunteer your time. Recite spoken word. Fight the good fights. Compost. Recycle. Upcycle. Reuse. Do not waste another moment thinking you don’t have the power to make a change. We must do this together.

Mother Earth is our teacher and school is in session
I’m not one for sharing secrets but I do have a confession;
I pledge my allegiance to the sea whose rising tides make a mockery
Out of man’s foolish neglect and fragility
"Save our planet!" Yes, indeed; 
Yet isn’t it we that need to be saved, 
as this is the only home for which we have the birthright deed?
Waters run through the deltas of collective delusion, asphyxiated with microplastics and greed
How many more messages from mighty Gaia do we still need?

Have we lost the ancient art of eye contact? 
Can we no longer get home with just a paper map? 
Lost
Lost in the algorithms of commodification;
We can barely hear the raw rhythm of our own exhalations

Look up! Look in! 
Touch, smell, listen!
Come join the meditating misfits
Let us sift the industrial sins from the mouth of the river 
After all, we are the delta, the variable that can change and deliver;
A blueprint for greener futures
A Nature that is irrevocably nurtured

Why must we create new virtual portals to escape this dimension we have the duty to heal and redesign?
No thanks, Apple, you can keep your Vision Pro
I seek fertile soil and blessed apple seeds to sow

Dear all artists, activists, and architects of this environmental revolution
May we continue cross-pollination and propagation of spoken word, truth, and love;
For this is the solution
Reciting from my Picasso poetry notebook. April 22, 2024. Photographer unknown, TBD.

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