The Garden

Community Poem, created in Berkeley, CA, March 2007, by Linet Amirkhanyan, Alison Kafer, Leroy Moore, Brittany De Avilan, Lakshmi Fjord, Christine Samuel, Steven Gall, Petra Kuppers

Brittany : The harmony rises above the silence and pricks the listener.

Lakshmi: Blooming in the garden:

Wild rose, marrow, forget-me-not, kudzu to cover, sage for the pot

Leroy: Shaky silence
Feet & palms slapping
Release violent history
Fingertips touch wounds

Alison: Virginia Creeper against weathered boards.

Here is a single night-flowing jasmine.

Linet: Extension into the sky:
Hand sound the heartbeat of the sun
And all hours, all places, all the world is one.

Petra : Oh taunt root red bird fly

Knuckles embrace soil

A garden on a thin wrist

Alison: Holding, nests of light,
shimmering bellies,
holding contact.

Lakshmi: Cardinal signs of star feet

Brittany : dance like a child

dance like a child

dance like a child

Steven: Feet to palms ebbing words breathing

Lakshmi: Star anise, lavender, yam root.

Christine: Layers: skin, steel, smiles
Layers of transparent breath and imagination
Layers of voices invisible
Layers of layers attempting to reveal layers lurking beneath

Linet: Layer the shadows and see we are one.

Lakshmi: Sun circle. Wheel circle. Poppy ring of hands.

Lakshmi: red red round tones of no more shame

All together: red red round tones of no more shame