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THE SEED


Seeds, seeding, seed-thoughts, sinking down to that seed, working the soil that the seed might break open healthy.  I find that I return to seed imagery again and again as I examine my personal and professional life.  Seeds have always fascinated me and ever moreso once I began to learn some facts about their nature.  For me, a most fascinating fact is that the essential elements of the mature tree or plant are contained within the seed from the start.  Another is that, seeds carry within them many of the necessary nutrients they must consume for healthy growth.  I find it amazing to know just how long many seeds can remain dormant (up to 2000 years!) waiting for conditions that are conducive to germination.  The needed shift in conditions to move from dormancy to budding can be internal to the seed itself or germination might require that external environmental conditions change dramatically. 

What does this say about the focus of our work in the world today?  What is here for us in terms of our personal growth, that of our home communities or the organization where we work?  Are we willing to acknowledge and address both the internal and external blocks?  There is a great deal for us to reflect upon as we consider the nature of seeds. 

Here is a poem written by Victoria Pearson during a 5-Day Beyond Diversity 101 Intensive.  Victoria is a farmer, community activist, writer and consultant.  We work together in Connecticut to build capacity within organizations that commit to becoming more just and equitable (CEIO).  I share her poem with much gratitude for all that she brings to this world and for what she inspires me to pay attention to in the seed.

THE SEED
I wriggle in expectation
I mesmerize myself.
I hold my feet out
feeling for fire
feeling for the moist kiss of the soil.

It's cool and quiet
in this in between place.
I hug myself tight
because there is no one else
yet.

I wonder what the
light will taste like
what my body will look like 
this time.

I remember past plants
I have been, like dreams
or hiccups of memory.
My little leaves, curled
next to the big love
of my parent's gifts
rest fitfully
almost hungry.

Never before have I known myself
this ready
for breaking open.  (Nov. 2016)

Comments

lizyeats said…
Thanks, Niyonu, it really helps me to have positive, life affirming possibilities brought before me in this time of fear and violence. I have shared this with my meeting's racial healing group and others. Gratitude!
Unknown said…
Thank you, Niyonu, and Victoria!

Wonderful and timely, as always. Late this fall my friend by virtue of 4 ears tuned to divine appointment and the subtle nudges of the heart, Nate Peyman, is a farmer colleague and close community member with Victoria, in her VT resident mode. Nate (and partner Ama) will be joining us for the Ruby Sales event!

I so love that we in this spiral-that-sometimes-looks-like-circle draw so deeply on the nourishment of our great teacher, Nature. Seeds and Soils in particular are very much where I am rooting these days: NOW: feeling the first shoots and leaves swelling and cracking the once protective layer that has stood as the boundary between then and soon. The dance of sacred geometry winks at us, a promise of liberated gifts that draw all nutrients together, in harmonics of need and offering.

Thank you for these thoughts, Niyonu. And for the beautiful poem, Victoria!

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