SEED GUARDIANS POETRY
We are the stuff of unexploded stars
By Jenny Lewis
Now we are under the heel of darkness, the birth
of chaos, trying to make out shapes, feel our blind way
like worms through a poisoned earth.
Words are no longer capable of spells or of spelling,
words betray us, words lie, words lead us astray,
words are no longer holders of truth or truth-telling.
Our lands are poisoned by seeds from some far-off laboratory,
those in power overrule us, threaten us, give us no rights, no say.
We’re told to be grateful to live in a contaminated cemetery.
The leaves and tears that fall on our graves are anguished
as one by one the birds, the flowers, the butterflies pass away until our lives, also, are extinguished.
But, wait! Believe me! We are the stuff of unexploded stars,
the universe knows us, is part of us, works through us every day,
that’s why we flicker with light, why our world is marvellous.
We spin in the wind, are warmed by sunshine, feel the ebb
and flow of seas, swim in rivers, make beautiful music, and play
in nature where we are at one with the earth’s miraculous web.
Look and listen, touch, feel, taste. We live among gorgeous treasures,
and keep them safe for our children and grandchildren: come what may,
we can and will always overcome the forces that try to destroy us.
First published in From Base Materials, by Jenny Lewis (Carcanet, June 2024)
Seed Guardians is a play that touches on food justice and food sovereignty in the Global South and how that is intertwined with food justice in the U.K. The play incorporated Poetry from Jenny Lewis and Yasmin Sidhwa. This combined elements of visual and oral storytelling to share the story of Leilani Mahachi, Zahra, Daniel, and Raf.
The Earth Mother
By Yasmin Sidhwa
Roots so deep, they penetrate the earth – home
The place of dwelling, the place of mystery.
Roots of our ancestors, Roots of our lineage
Deep within the heart of the Great Mother,
The Earth Mother, Mother Gaia.
Uprooted, upturned, disconnected, separated,
We have been led to believe we are not one.
But our connection is returning,
Our memory awakening.
The stillness, the oneness, the love and mutual care.
Nurtured by the Earth, as we are the Earth’s guardians,
Here to care for, be at one with,
Our Earth Mother, Mother Gaia.
Greed and Growth, greed and growth –
All in the name of progress.
For the few who thrive on power,
Taking what is not theirs to own.
Taking and taking,
Destroying and uprooting
The natural treasures, the human gems.
Believing they can own the Earth,
Can own bodies, can own minds.
We are waking up,
The Earth Mother is rising,
Like a phoenix from the ashes of extraction.
Her power is abundance, her power is Love.
Her power is life and breath and death and re-birth.
The cycle cannot be destroyed,
She is waking up, as we are waking up,
To the wisdom deep within,
The ancestral, Indigenous knowledge,
That our birthright is to give and to receive,
In a two-way flow.
Nurturing as we are nurtured,
Loving as we are loved,
Protecting as we are protected.
Greed and growth, Extraction and power
Have no place here.
The time is over, we will no longer watch
And stand in silence, as the Earth,
Our Mother is ransacked.
Piece by piece and soul by soul
We return to connection,
To seed and earth, to air and water
Back to belonging, back to Gaia.
CAST & CREATIVES
Writer
Yasmin Sidhwa
Director
Yasmin Sidhwa
Poetry
Jenny Lewis
Movement Choreographer
Marie-Louise Flexen
Set Design
Groovy Su & John Stumbles
Producer
Maryam Ahmed
Technical Stage Manager
Ben Oakey
Filmaker
Ben Johnston
Photographer
Stu Allsopp
Grandma Seed (Gogo)
Nicole-Rose Munhawa
Zahra Rivers
Mya Fraser
Rafeal (Raf)
Luis Ribeiro
Daniel Lam
Onthium Klarcks
Voiceover
Amantha Edmead
PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS
