Tag Archives: #poetry

Gaia Offended

A found poem created from the text of the Green New Deal by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and In Catastrophic Times by Isabelle Stengers. 

Gaia Sacred System, digital painting by Cristina McAllister 
the earth was not ours

we have chosen
Gaia’s intrusion
we, the probable protagonists
suspended in time

inheritors of history, of destruction
catastrophic collapse
bearers of a compass
separated from truth
truth, that disturbs

a world become spectacle
rhythm of news
wheels of fascination
dreams of the rich

freed predator
panic on the markets
progress defined as growth 
criminal growth
hunting the unemployed
the unhoused, millions 
sacrificed at the
altar of growth

a point of departure
an era come to an end
another history begun

stop, prevent, repair 
oppression
of indigenous, of color
of migrants, of workers
of us
this war requires all

reclaim, relearn abstract possibility
collective culpability
public ownership, community-defined
universal access
to nature
to justice, equity, economic security

take root again, in soil
call it joy
joy is 
to act, to think, to imagine 
together
joy, an epidemic

shatter fabrications, atom by atom
build resiliency, fair and just
detoxify the narratives
the air, the water

however small, it matters
to appease Gaia, imagine
a future, radical and daring

A found poem is a form of word collage. It allows us to put various works of literature, whether fiction or nonfiction, in dialogue with each other. It’s a way of understanding and processing the meaning of what we read and consume, in addition to creating new narratives and meaning. This found poem compares the ideas presented in the Green New Deal, a legislation, and Isabelle Stengers’ philosophical contemplations about climate and unregulated economic growth. Stengers speaks in favor of socialism and believes that many of the destructions we’re currently facing are a result of capitalism. Likewise, Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal is described by some as a socialist agenda. Stengers describes politicians as our guardians who keep us complacent and convince us to accept systemic injustices. However, Ocasio-Cortez is speaking out against the kind of complacency Stenger denounces. The Green New Deal attempts to put into practice many of Stenger’s theories. One thing to keep in mind is that though both Stengers and Ocasio-Cortez are critical of the unregulated economic growth and systemic injustices that resulted from decades of capitalism, they’re not opposing growth itself. Stengers is not advocating for degrowth. Similarly, job creation and economic prosperity are at the center of the Green New Deal. What Stengers and Ocasio-Cortez are advocating for is growth that is reflective, sustainable, fair, and just; growth that empowers everyone and gives them agency rather than to put power and control in the hands of a few.