UNESCO 2020 Sustainability Poetry Contest Book ' The Year of International Plant Health' by Brock University

2020 SUSTAINABILITY POETRY CONTEST

“The Year of International Plant Health”

TABLE OF CONTENTS/ TABLE DES MATIERES

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

Introduction to the 2020 Sustainability Poetry Contest / Introduction au concours de poésie de durabilité 2019 ...............................................3 - 4 I am plants. About World Poetry Day / I have a UNESCO life. À propos de la Journée mondiale de la poésie de l’UNESCO............................................. 5 I am all around you. I am home to many lives.

2020 topic/ sujet......................................................................................................................... 6 But I can get diseases. 2020 winners/ gagnants............................................................................................................ 7 Diseases can kill me.

2020 poems/ poèmes....................................................................................................... 8 - 37 You need me because I give you food and oxygen. Acknowledgements / Remerciements................................................................................. 38 You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

INTRODUCTION TO THE 2020 SUSTAINABILITY POETRY CONTEST

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

March 21 was designated as World Poetry Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to celebrate I am theplants. importance of creative minds in the world.

I have a life. I am around you. To all celebrate this day, the UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From I am home to many Local to Globallives. (initially with the help of the Brock University Environmental

Sustainability Research Centre) initiated a poetry contest to celebrate the

But I can get diseases. various dimensions of sustainability in 2015. Diseases can kill me.

This initiative celebrates the creative minds that we have in the Niagara region

You need me because I give you food and oxygen. and allows writers to express their desires for attaining a more sustainable future You need food and oxygen to survive. while enhancing their role in community sustainability. Language plays a critical You need to protect me.

role in the daily lives, histories and identities of people around the world. By honoring the poetic voice as a social tool, we hope to bring awareness to If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. social givehelpful a voice tofor the community, promote linguistic diversity and You have issues, to try doing things me. change the way people view their place in the world.

We received submissions on this year’s theme from Anglophone and Francophone students (from kindergarten through to post-secondary) as well as from members of the general public from across the Niagara region. This year we were thrilled to receive a record-number of submissions, all of which were exceptional examples of the creativity and talent in our region. The strong uptake in the contest is extremely encouraging and leaves us optimistic that there exists a strong passion for preserving the important place of poetry in our society. After another wonderful year of success, I look forward to welcoming contributions once again next year as we will once again celebrate—in person, I hope—World Poetry Day and bring awareness to the importance of sustainability in our community.

Best wishes,

Liette Vasseur UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: from local to global

INTRODUCTION AU CONCOURS DE POÉSIE DE DURABILITÉ 2020

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

Le 21 mars a été désigné comme la Journée internationale de la poésie par l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’éducation, la science et la culture I(UNESCO) am plants. afin de célébrer l’importance de la pensée créatrice dans le monde. I have a life. Afin dearound célébrer I am all you.cette journée, la Chaire UNESCO en durabilité des communautés lives.initialement avec l’aide du centre de recherche en durabilité :I am du home local to aumany global,

environnementale à Brock, a établi en 2015 un concours de poésie pour célébrer les But I can get diseases. de la durabilité. diverses dimensions Diseases can kill me.

Cette initiative célèbre les pensées créatrices que nous avons dans la région de la You need me because I give you fooddes and Premières oxygen. Niagara et des communautés Nations de la région et permet aux You need food oxygen to survive. membres deand la communauté d’exprimer leurs désirs à acheminer vers un futur You need to protect me. durable tout en même temps que de démontrer leur rôle dans la durabilité de la communauté. En honorant les talents poétiques comme un outil social, nous If you kill me I can’t give you oxygen because I’m dead. espérons sensibiliser lesfood gensand aux enjeux sociaux reliés au développement durable, You have une to tryvoie doingà helpful things for me.promouvoir la diversité linguistique et changer donner la communauté, la façon dont les gens voient leur place dans le monde. La langue joue un rôle critique dans nos vies de tous les jours et représente une identité des peoples partout dans le monde. Cette année nous avons reçu un nombre record de soumissions d’étudiantes et étudiants de la primaire au postsecondaire, ainsi que des membres du grand public de la région dans les deux langues, française et anglaise. Toutes les soumissions sont des exemples exceptionnels de la créativité et du talent de la région. Le grand succès de ce concours est très encourageant et nous laisse optimiste qu’il y a une forte passion pour la préservation et l’importance de la poésie dans notre société. Après une autre année de succès, j’ai bien hâte de recevoir les contributions de l’année prochaine et de célébrer, cette fois-ci en personne je l’espère, la Journée internationale de la poésie et de continuer à promouvoir l’importance de la durabilité dans notre communauté.

Meilleurs vœux

Liette Vasseur UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: from local to global

ABOUT UNESCO WORLD POETRY DAY

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

“Poetry is this unique art that makes us aware of extraordinary human diversity: the diversity of languages and cultures. It is a meeting place between the individual and Ithe am world. plants. It is an introduction to difference, dialogue and peace. Each year since I1999, have aUNESCO life. has celebrated World Poetry Day on March 21. It is an occasion to Icelebrate am all around theyou. wealth of the world’s cultural and linguistic heritage.” I am home to many lives.

- Audrey Azoulay, Director General/ Directrice Générale, UNESCO, 2018

But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me.

À PROPOS DE JOURNÉE MONDIALE DE LA If you kill me I can’t give you LA food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try DE doing helpful things for me. POÉSIE L’UNESCO “La poésie est aussi cet art unique qui rend sensible à l’extraordinaire diversité humaine : diversité des langues et des cultures. C’est un lieu de rencontre entre l’individu et le monde. C’est une initiation à la différence, au dialogue, à la paix… Chaque année depuis 1999, l’UNESCO fête, le 21 mars, la Journée internationale de la poésie. C’est l’occasion de célébrer la richesse du patrimoine culturel et linguistique mondial.”

- Audrey Azoulay, Director General/ Directrice Générale, UNESCO, 2018

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

2020

If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

The theme of this year’s contest was:

THE YEAR OF INTERNATIONAL PLANT HEALTH: Protecting Plants, Protecting Life Plants are the source of the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, and ultimately of all life on earth. Despite their importance, we do not pay enough attention to keeping them healthy. The United Nations has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). The year is a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.

Le thème du concours de 2020 était:

ANNÉE INTERNATIONALE DE LA SANTÉ DES VÉGÉTAUX: Protéger Les Plantes, Protéger La Vie Les plantes sont la source de l’oxygène que nous respirons, la nourriture que nous mangeons, et ultimement de la toute la vie sur terre. Malgré leur importance, nour ne payons pas assez attention pour les garder en santé. L’Organisation des Nations Unies a proclamé 2020 “Année internationale de la santé des végétaux” (AISV). “Il s’agit d’une formidable occasion de sensibiliser le monde entier à la manière dont la protection phytosanitaire peut contribuer à éliminer la faim, à réduire la pauvreté, à protéger l’environnement et à stimuler le développement économique” (FAO.org, 2019). 6

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

I am plants. I have a life. I am all around you. I am home to many lives. But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

WINNERS / GAGNANTS “Un monde tout vert” by/ par: Alexander Emmitt Yap Category/ Catégorie: College/University Student (French) “Help the Plants ” by/par: Harry Byun Category / Catégorie: Elementary School Student (English) “Terra” by/par: Elizabeth Grace Tomaino Category / Catégorie: Secondary School Student (English) “The Active Agent ” by/par: Diana Vasu Category/ Catégorie: College/University Student (English) “Adam and Eve Recall the tree” by/par: Franco Cortese Category / Catégorie: General Public/Public général (English)

The Active Agent by/par: Diana Vasu

*Winner/gagnant: gagnant:Category/ Category/Catégorie: Catégorie:General College/University *Winner/ Public/PublicStudent général(English)

Ithe amactive plants.agent in photosynthesis is resilience I have a life. Iearth-native am all around you. corn stalks stoke border disputes with airborne seedlings Ifloating am home toenemy many lives. into territory, making it home roots intertwining, tender solidarity But generals I can dressed get diseases. in hazmat suits armed with chemical weapons annihilate the intruders Diseases underground, can kill theme. living still clutch the hands of the deceased You theirneed mutated me because counterparts I give you know food their and time oxygen. is limited You and need that the food hands and oxygen of Man to have survive. toyed with their genetic code You ensuring needthe to protect mortality me.of their kind April’s cruelty knows no bounds fields begI to be reunited belovedbecause crops I’m dead. Ifdirt you kill me can’t give you with food their and oxygen the Occident, fromthings past harvests You have to tryborrowed doing helpful for me. the Orient, labgrown planted by frantic hands the scent of armageddon peppering the air all-consuming when the constant whir of industry ceases the earth-native corn stalks will mourn the barren field beside them mutated, themselves, but begat by the resurgent I will walk the line between the perfected-by-nature and the tainted-by-Man looking for life through the shuffling leaves and forgotten plastic shells

Terra

by/par: Elizabeth Grace Tomaino

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: High School Student (English) General Public/Public général

IAnd am she plants. wept with monsoons I have a life. heaving sobs crashing into tropical shores I am all around you. I am she home to manywith lives. And retaliated inferno erupting flames blistering through the pacific core But I can get diseases. Diseases can killwith me.terracotta quakes And she shook glacial fractures sending fatal tremors from coast to coast You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You she needsmiled food and to survive. But withoxygen honeysuckle fields You needsweetly to protect growing like me. daisies from pillar to post If youshe killlaughed me I can’t give foodtides and oxygen because I’m dead. And with theyou rolling You have to helpful sweeping in try anddoing out with eachthings intakefor ofme. breath But when she fell sick we blamed the ebb and flow for her untimely death And when her fever ran the world in circles we begged for the answers we refused to accept So, when the night sky remained perpetually black we scorned mother earth, the cruel insomniac

Help the Plants by/par: Harry Byun

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

ADAM and EVE Recall the Tree by/par: Franco Cortese

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

“ADAM and EVE Recall the Tree” is composed exclusively of words and phrases extracted from an open-access scientific I am plants. article I have that a life.I co-authored in late 2019 in the journal Scientific Reports. As such, it is a poem made via the erasure and reconstruction the words from a scientific paper. Every word and phrase used in this poem can be verified at: https:// I am all aroundofyou. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35704-w I am home to many lives. But I can get diseases. ADAM and EVE recall the Diseases can kill me. Tree. The smoking Fold split in corpuscular You need me because I give you food and oxygen. Scores. The mortal clocks. The You need food and oxygen to survive. Wrapper, the fraction. The You need to protect me. Red origin and the loss. The died off smoking forest. The dropout. The deep If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. Accelerated loss of nonlinear recall. The cross You have to try doing helpful things for me. Entropy made good by cross-validation. The feed Forward back propagation of split ethnic Ethics and adaptive binary arbitrage. The risk Without repair. The urban smoke and red rural Rest. The residence and red record. The racial Status. The age, the sex, assessed. The deep dividing Defined. The random consistent. The correctly Predicted. The protocol. The years, the Fall. The descending tail. The model Subject. The means and median end. The absolute Error of the public Good. The rapid accumulation of material Self averaged across fully-anonymized groups of public Subjects according to the public True, ranked by the intrinsically stochastic and deleterious Increase and aggregation of reconstructed spaces. The right

To explore without learning. The geographical layers scored Red with smoking blood deposited biweight. Anonymized trees, anonymized loss. Self-reported Rights and Permissions. Environmental fasting and premature Worldwide death twice as old as its chronological age. Shallow blood by based biological arbitrage. Nature Selected and regressed. Scored. Plateaued. Disappeared. Split Origins preprocessed and normalized. Public Repositories built on public methylation and trained On false-positive predictions to feed Forward a reconstruction of the missing Values we used to aggregate self: true self, material Self. Self-reported self. The shallow machine. The loss Of actual origins for accelerated Clocks. Mortal architectures overfitting cost Functions for optimized public Performance. Glucose, cholesterol and other Models of artificial good. High-density lipoprotein made Good by high-density urban grids. True Human Ethics on deep smoking tracks. Red cost, red loss, red end.

Un monde tout vert

By/par: Alexander Emmitt Yap

*Winner/ gagnant: gagnant: Category/ Category/ Catégorie: Catégorie: General College/University Student (French) *Winner/ Public/Public général

IEn amfermant plants. les yeux, je vois un monde vert ; arbres ILes have a life.étirant leurs branches vers le ciel. Me donnent couvert I am all around you. de la pluie du printemps mehome protègent deslives. rayons de l’été. IEtam to many Je cligne des yeux, les couleurs commencent à changer. Les Ifeuilles tombent me laissent enchanté. But can getqui diseases. L’hiver arrive et vois la neige Diseases can killjeme. Qui laisse des squelettes de bois tout glacés. Je neneed me souviens pasIquand tout a changé ; You me because give you food and oxygen. Les jeunes bourgeons qui ne fleurissent plus ; You need food and oxygen to survive. L’ombre des arbres qui ne conforte guère ; You need to protect me. L’air qui coûte de plus en plus cher. si doux le oxygen miel, because I’m dead. IfDis-moi, you kill mon me I petit, can’t give youcomme food and Ne verras-tu jamais une belle p’tite abeille You have to try doing helpful things for me.? N’entendras-tu jamais le chant des oiseaux ? Sauras-tu même la joie de planter une fleur ? En ouvrant les yeux, je me sens soulagé ; Il nous reste encore du temps, mes frères et mes sœurs. Il ne prend qu’un effort de moi et de toi, « Un monde tout vert ! », c’est ce que j’aboie.

Reflections of ‘A Garden of Color’ by/par: Linda-Lee Little

After a summer evening’s downpour, I sat inGeneral our garden, *Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: Public/Public général Watching and reflecting while, it seemed, The flowers were awakening once. I am plants. Raindrops on each tiny petal seemed to I have a life. Shimmer in the you. late evening sun, I am all around While butterflies fluttered I am home to many lives. from flower to flower, Their wings still drenched after the showers were done. But I can get diseases. A Gardencan of Color, so vibrant and bold, Diseases kill me. A treasure in each season of beauty untold, Renewed year with precious memories You need each me because I give you food and oxygen. Of a quiet time of reflection spent in our You need food and oxygen to survive. garden Where so to many friendships You need protect me. continue to unfold. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

*tú cu nǔ sù yù mù* by/par: Franco Cortese

“tú cu nǔ sù *Winner/ gagnant: yù mù / Category/ road cow flint Catégorie: grain precious General stone Public/Public plain silk” concerns général itself with capitalism and consumerism, the atomic bomb, the petroleum industry, and the military-industrial complex. It uses poetic forms of omission (i.e., the lipogram, which consciously omits the use of certain letters) to speak to and real-world ecological, historical, cultural, sociopolitical, socioeconomic and environmental omission. Iagainst am plants. it consists of a densely-multilingual lipogram consisting of two-letter words that only use a single IFormally, have a life. invariant vowel (“u”) sourced from a wide variety of languages, paired with that lipogram’s untruncated and I am all around you. literal English translation and technical or grammatical definitions. Furthermore, in being composed Iunedited am home to many lives. exclusively of two-letter words (self and other) that share an invariant aspect of form, arranged in alphabetical order according to the consonant or vowel they begin with (thus wedding form to content), the poem collects But I can get diseases. aDiseases community of can kill mostly me. alike and slightly different entities (words), and arranges them in a strict pre-conceived order (all in a row; all in their place), dictating not only what they can be (their form), but also how they interact orderedI give among as a community of beings. You needand mebe because youeach foodother, and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. au auneed au, to protect me. You bu, bǔ bû, bù bù: bù, bù; bù, bù; bù, bù: cùyou cù cù, cù; give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. If kill cù, mecù, I can’t dū, dū, dù; dú, dú; dū, dû dû, dú; You have to try doing helpful things for me. eu fǔ, fǔ; fǔ, fǔ; fú, fū; fu gǔ gǔ gǔ gǔ; gū, gū; gū, gū, gū, gǔ gū gū hu, hu hū hú hū, hú hū hū; hū, hū, hú hú hu, jū; jú, jú; jū, jū; jǔ jù, jǔ jù jù jù, jù jù jù kū kū; kū kù; ku ku kù, kū ku, ku, ku; Kū, kǔ lu, lu lǔ lú, lú, lù; lù lù; lù lú lù lù lú lú, mű mù mù mù, mù, mǔ; mù mù mù, mǔ, mù: ñu nǔ nū nú nù, nu nu, ou ǔu; ǔu ou ǔu ōu õu, ōu ōu ōu pū, pū; pù, pǔ, p’u pǔ pù; pú pǔ pū qù qū; qú qú qū qū qú, qū qǔ, qú qú, qù qū, rú rú, rù, rù; rù rú; rǔ rǔ; rú, rù, sū sù, sū sù, sù sú su; sū sú sú, sū sú sǔ; sù, sú, tu tu tú tú tú, tú tú, tǔ tù tu tū; üü üü vú vù vú; vǔ wū, wù wù wū; wù wū wū wù, wǔ wǔ wǔ xù xū xū; xū xū: xū, xù xù; xū xū yù, yú, yú yú; yu yù, yù yù; yù yú yù yù zu; zú zú, zǔ zǔ.

*road *Winner/ cow flint gagnant: grain Category/ precious stone Catégorie: plain silk* General Public/Public général

smoke water to move, I am plants. to assemble, I have a life. to capture cattle, to spread division: place name, plutonium; trading center, troops; cloth, a register: level place to tread I am all around you.on, gather foliage, draw close, nest; capital city, to metropolis, kilowatt-hour; reading of word, narcotics; platform over city gate, hard smoke, crime; I am home many lives. to have seat government, official residence; dried meat, preserved fruit; prisoner of war, conscripted labourer; fire But Iofcan get diseases. to rub clean dried up Diseases can kill me. valley; wheel, household iron; to buy, to sell, to employ, therefore to let down mushroom dust, ash to breathe out scorched dawn, bone to exhale dried meat; to rise, to overflow, to unearth black water, to polymerize; store, shop; chariot; to hoard hard iron, to lift great steel torch, to amputate bright light, You need me because I givegun, youwar food and oxygen. to eat empty air; to stir fry the sky; to blow hot, dry air, skeleton hole, how, where; the god of war, hardship You need food and oxygen to survive. bone, flame to split forehead, skull, foot of a hill; to kill land; mushroom furnace to rain wintry black sunshine, You need to protect me. artificial sunset to cleanse name, title, hills; fine rain to cure eyesight, origin, order: new flint roar old fury, If you killtome I can’t give to youdrink foodfresh, and oxygen because I’m dead. hollow calm; accidental cloud half-alight to hide outside, heat covered (with dust) to scatter (like dust) You have to try doing helpful things for me. gun, putt putt of a motor; shop, plain and simple, for the universal more; shave cultivated field to pave black the human world; big dust coat world to drive labour, to hasten decay, to bend ditch, to plow district, to be as good as clothes, income, cotton-padded mattress; to pay to eat; to be indebted to disgrace; to fit, to fuck, suck fat, breathe plastics, inhale unrefined fire; to take cheap energy, to get common history; to sue, to sow, black water way to scribble street, leaven yeast, pour out flat ground on either end of a bridge to sliding profits; night water to suckle swollen time; business affair filthy, business affair foul; towering building to dye black all of the outside world, footstep to hide footprint to store up empty or unoccupied comfort; to heat by steam or fire the sky: black, infertile dawn, fair market greed, luster of gems, surplus world; molten iron steam, hard metal valley; black water to smoke bright light sight; ample foot, forefather curse.

We’ll trade it all for coin. by/par: Leslie Ann Czegeny

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public It’s all very simple général

I am plants. I have a life. I am all around you. I am home to many lives. But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me.

fruits and vegetables No pesticides No herbicides No irradiation Locally grown, organic

fish

You need me because I give you food and oxygen. Tested for safe mercury levels You need food and oxygen to survive. No toxic waters You need to protect me. Practicing dolphin and turtle safe catching If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

chicken

Free range, Organically fed Humanely killed

beef No steroids No antibiotics Organically fed Humanely killed Not from the stripped rainforest for cattle farming (active tense)

cheese

Non-processed Organic No modified milk ingredients No Sugar No Hormones

shampoo

No Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Parabens, Sodium Chloride Polyethylene Glycols Diethanolamine and Triethanolamine, Formaldehyde, Alcohol, Synthetic Fragrances, Synthetic Colors, Dimethicone, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Triclosan, Retinyl Palmitate

water bottle

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général

I am plants. I have a life. I am all around you. I am home to many lives.

BPA free Plastic free Preferably glass or stainless steel

toilet cleaner

Green product Environmentally friendly No bleach No chlorine You need me because I give you food and oxygen. No sodium You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me.

sanitary pads

If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. No BPA You have to try doing helpful things for me. No plasticizers No cellulose gels No dioxin No pesticides No herbicides

deodorant No aluminum No paraben

sweater

No child sweatshop labour No flame retardants Eco-friendly fibers

make up

No animal testing No zinc No lead No formaldehyde

reusable shopping bags No single use plastics

Agri Anti Culture

by/par: Joshua John Hutten

*Winner/ A lack of senses gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général Leaves a reliance on natural forces. Sex is the only objective; reproduction the sole goal worlds of human intervention ITainted am plants. external, water and air, IFrom havethe a life. From the inner, you. genetics. I am all around rapes natural diversity IThe amsilent homelaboratory to many lives. For the sake of profit and yields. The Imutants choke out the pure; But can get diseases. Soon all will be sea of same, Diseases can killame. A virus away from decimation. The villains ofbecause the fieldI give you food and oxygen. You need me Employed by lab coats andto grow lights. You need food and oxygen survive. The confinement of stalks to cloned row. You need to protect me. Individuality sighs and breathes its last. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. Wearing the labhelpful coats spray You havegloves to try doing things for me. The plan to feed the planet. With toxic genes the landfills bulge While children clench in pain We cannot sell what isn’t new,

I can’t breathe-

by/par: Emma M Facca

I*Winner/ can’t breathegagnant:   Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général no one is listening to us,   we can’t breathe-  Greta, Barrett, Coleman, Villaseñor, De Wever,     I am plants. Youth. I have a life. we aren’t being heard  I am all around you. Youth.   I am home to many lives. they don’t think we have the power-   itBut willI can be my getchildren, diseases.it will be your children, its our children, our future,   IDiseases still can’tcan breath e-   kill me. no one is listening- we cry for help and no one wants to help   the intoIgrey Yougreen need will me turn because give  you food and oxygen. one day they will tell us that-   You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. WE WERE RIGHT,  WE KNEW ALLI can’t ALONG If you kill me give-  you food and oxygen because I’m dead. OUR CRIES MEANT MORE,  You have to try doing helpful things for me. THEY WERE MILLENNIAL SCREAMS   but right now,    I can’t breathe.

Prey

by/par: Sarah May Lindsay

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général Meatpacking What a word! Let’s claim the flesh of another being, make it ours. it up in a neat little box. IPackage am plants. we can IBecause have a life. Oh, but make I am all aroundsure you.they are subordinate and easy to manage Child labourers? The homeless? The mentally “ill”? ILike am black homeslaves? to many lives. (scoffs) “ill”!! They see the horror and cannot look away. Environmental torture, the attacks are deep within their soul. But I can get diseases. More than empathy: Diseases can kill me. abuse of another is a knife drawn across their own throat. Look at their eyes. Yes, need exactly: confusion, desperation, disbelief. You mepanic, because I give you food and oxygen. Bring it back now: “they share the same basic relationship—that [exists] between the You need food and oxygen to survive. oppressor and the oppressed”. You need to protect me. Relationship? Perhaps: domination Yes, slaughterhouse…where the being transitions intodead. this abstract “meat” If youlike killame I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m They “have a unique and insidious effect on the surrounding communities” You have to try doing helpful things for me. You mean more than just the “meat” suffers? YES! Violence increases. Especially of a “domestic” nature. The blood spills over. The irony!! I have a theory: this living with, this looking at death… It breeds beatings. Validates violence. Props up our “differences”. Defines them. It “animalizes” us. We look for prey. We are predators. Again, reduced to flesh. At least this makes us all “one”. Of them.

2. LePan’s Sam

by/par: Sarah May Lindsay

Butgénéral still, why could a woman not do the same *Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: Public/Public “The path narrowed at the end of the ramp,General fenced each Poised as a “sticker”? side, narrow, narrow . . . the body was yanked up and away Look away in her mind’s eye. by the pull chains on the hoist conveyor” (LePan 170) I am plants. The “sticker I have a life. ” is just a man, maybe he’s a white man White, flesh is rarely “white” I am allnow around you. I should saytohe’s more flesh coloured. Even if he is white. am home many lives. Maybe heget hasdiseases. kids, an old lady at home But I can Why would Diseases canI assume kill me. that? Why couldn’t he live alone? Or maybe he is homeless.

Maybe she does not wish to look away. Maybe her work is a release. She says: I give life, I make a life for others. I gave my life away. Yet here, I can oppress, control, take another’s life (just as he did) Empowerment. I feel what he felt. Wonderful.

You need me because I give you food and oxygen. Or, may loveand men. Youhe need food oxygen to survive. If I cannot achieve it “out there” because of my gender, my Why did the “sticker”me. emerge as male in my mind? You need to protect class, my race Could it not be a woman. A child even. Well, there is no in Canada . I’m dead. I will not admit my weakness. If youthat’s kill mesilly, I can’t give youchild foodlabour and oxygen because Instead, I will take the life of another. Our country is so much morethings civilized You have to try doing helpful forthan me. other parts of And here, no one will even question it . It’s “normal”. the world. People who do not conform to carnivorous, consumerist, gendered, capitalist, racist regimes are the problem. Moreover, women wouldn’t have the heart— Fighting the norm—hell, even asking why it is there—is or strength—to stun and stick a pig unacceptable. (Did it give consent ?) So, here I stand. “Sticker” in hand. Watch as its eyes move from fear, to pain, to nothingness It’s beautiful Or worse: an incomplete I have heard that happens often Then the pig really does see it all: the hook coming closer Skewered. Maybe they can mentally move on Detach Oh, see maybe a woman could do that Our gender remains a commodity. For men. For society. Reproduce! Comply! Service me! I recall leaving. My mind was over there. My body was somewhere else. How much longer? I wondered… If I help it will be over sooner. Oh, wait then, I suppose I was thinking.

An Ephemeral Decay by/par: Derek J. Smith

“The body gagnant: is a temple,” *Winner/ Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général or so they say; the body is finite. I am plants. body lay IThe have a life. the body decay I am all around you. to the earth. Ithe ambody homereturns to many lives. The Iearth thrives But can get diseases. composting lives Diseases canpast kill me. photosynthesize the body You need revives. me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. Our need body to is aprotect templeme. is earth. You If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

Japanese Haiku

by/par: Donna T E Lovie

Glorious green growth *Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général Harvest of health and healing Essential for life. I am plants. I have a life. I am all around you. I am home to many lives.

Japanese Haiku But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. Simple sustainer Saviour of stomach and soul You need me because I give you food and oxygen. Beauty and bounty. You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

You give us……

by/par: Seojin (Kelly) Byun

*Winner/ You give usgagnant: fresh air. Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général You give us fresh fruits and vegetables. You give us so much for living! I am plants. what do humans give you? IBut have a life. I am all around you. it’s time we give you help to survive forever! INow am home to many lives. But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

Untitled

by/par: Dennis Craig Geddes

*Winner/ gagnant:Months Category/ général Hope and Recovery ago,Catégorie: I could feelGeneral no hope,Public/Public I was so afraid, That I couldn’t cope. Drugs, had finally, taken their toll, Breaking my heart, stealing my soul. Tears and worries, at what I had lost. No Love or freedom, is what it cost. Leaving the habit, and all of its pain, I’m learning to Love, all over again. Some days I feel, I won’t make it, It’s not just a game. and I am plants. I can it. It won’t be long, until my final test, there’s only one life I want to do my best. havefake a life. There are two I am all aroundchoices, you. and I can’t fail, the path that’s familiar, leads me to jail. The other is cluttered, and fears, My perception is blurred, by a million tears. Being an addict, I am homeby todecisions many lives. It really makes me think. I’m standing in quicksand, and starting to sink. The final battle is here, helpget slaydiseases. the dragon, Stay off the drugs, stay on the wagon But I can Diseases can kill me. You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me.

Untitled

Empty Nest When I drove you, to school one day. I remembered when, we used to play. If you mecaught I can’tthe giverubber you food oxygen because dead. call. Next it was brownies, the daykillyou ball.and First time you got, aI’m telephone You have toGuides. try doing helpful things forinme. then it was You took your life. giant strides Camping out, and your first hike. Training wheels, and you first bike. Never did I think, you’d grow so fast. Always thought, childhood would last. Next I knew, you were on a date. Worried like crazy, you came home late. Next you started, to borrow the car. Have to wonder where you are. College was easy, cause you really tried. when you left home, I really cried!

Sun and Lone Petal by/par: Lauren Biasetti

I*Winner/ awake in agagnant: dance toCategory/ the rhythmCatégorie: General Public/Public général The call of today’s duty can be felt in the need of a pull My fellow companions produce a hum that grows eager bid farewell I am plants. to the Hive and enter a journey towards colour sweet IThe have a life.essence of a tall lioness flower welcomes me It’s presence equals I am all around you. the brightness of the sun that I have been longing to touch it’s nurturing I taste am home to many nectar lives. and forget for a moment who I am The sticky pollen brushes along my legs where it will stay protected I bidI farewell to the flower that I call Sun and commit towards colour But can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. I reach a valley that my ancestors spoke of Theyneed told me theirbecause grandchildren thefood importance of staying connected You I give you and oxygen. Nature is the fruit of Mother and the worship of thy King You need food and oxygen to survive. The valley feels cold and heavy now You need to protect me. Where is the flower that I call Sun? I stop flight to weep lone petal If you my kill me I can’t giveon youa food and oxygen because I’m dead. It tells me a different story from that of me. my ancestors You have to try doing helpful things for Lone petal has never seen Sun and believes Thee a myth I gift the pollen that I received and share it with importance I bid farewell to Lone Petal and fly home The Hive is strong and alive I am grateful to witness my fellow companions in great number A startling ache hits the center of my core that I can’t ignore May I too become myth?

Earth Mother’s Warning By/par: Shelley Anne Locke

From troubled slumber Gaia doesCatégorie: stir *Winner/ gagnant: Category/ General Public/Public général Flora she sired once spanned the earth She weeps their loss through acid tears Forests burning; nature’s seeds in dearth I am plants. I have a life. Top worldyou. air temps rise I amofallthe around Faster than the rest the earth I am home to manyoflives. Melts sea ice below her skies Tender buds fail to birth But I can getdrown, diseases. Diseases can kill me. Changes in snow and rainfall patterns Atmosphere ofICO2 You need meblanket because give you food and oxygen. AYou longer spring is cause for need food and oxygen concern to survive. Honey bees from You need toperish protect me.lack of food Ocean temps warm expands If you kill me rise; I can’t givewater you food and oxygen because I’m dead. Extreme events of weather conceived You have to try doing helpful things for me. Hail batters crops across our lands Wheat fields lost before they’re sheaved Many ignored predictions declared Hours grew darkest before new dawn Earth’s upper ceiling ringed with trapped air Arctic and Greenland may be long gone Archipelagos drown; new ones are born To survive; Ecosystems conform Landmass world over appear to transform Will humanities’ strength weather this storm? Majestic mountains may fade to islands London, Venice; lost below water Scotland’s highlands now the lowlands Flora adjusts as our earth alters Brine and fresh swap places in oceans Seeds carried to strange locales Deserts once dry become lands frozen Permafrost covered by chaparrals Plant demise is cause for dismay Biota shift becomes new truth Up to us to mend willful ways Or follow the path of the Saber Toothed

Something To Tell By/par: Michael Waage

*Winner/ Somethinggagnant: I have to Category/ tell, before Catégorie: it’s too late!General Public/Public général Mother Nature is not going to wait For us to get get our act together, she changes the all the weather. IBefore am plants. I have a life. animals will die. IAll amthe allinnocent around you. will come you and IThen am home to many lives.I. We have the power to change this, When weget all act together. But I can diseases. Diseases can kill me. We need to get back to a simpler life, And need not, for stuff, to strive. You memore because I give you food and oxygen. Reduce, re-use, recycle, just enough! You need food and oxygen toisn’t survive. About ourtoenergy consumption, we’ve got to get tough. You need protect me. Governments, way more careful be, because I’m dead. If you kill me I can’t give you foodneed and to oxygen Of things they let companies put in our air You have to try doing helpful things for me.and seas. We fight all these other wars world wide. Why can’t we get together, to keep nature on our side?

Mother Earth

By/par: Carol Doreen Pratt

Mother Earth *Winner/ gagnant: is cryingShe Category/ is crying Catégorie: out for air General Public/Public général Take a look around We just don’t seem to care I am plants. She is calling I have a life. on us to listen To hear the oceans I am all around you. life within IAnd am all home to many lives. Pleading for their existence Not Ito end But can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. Her tiny Bees are telling us We have time I give you food and oxygen. You needlittle me because Our flora and fauna You need food and oxygen to survive. Are giving usprotect a sign me. You need to Mother showing us food and oxygen because I’m dead. If you killEarth me Iiscan’t give you What we need to do You have to try doing helpful things for me. Will we listen to her wisdom Or ignore her at our peril Time is running out There is no place for us to go Mother Earth is crying That is all we need to know

ON NATURE

By/par: Michael Waage

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ General Quiet almost perpetual stillnessCatégorie: drifts over the water,Public/Public général As the golden globe slowly turns to crimson, it seems to sit, Perched on the pinnacle of a distant hill. Before it slowly descends, forever that day, even against our will. I am plants. I have a life. The multi-coloured, frames willowy clouds that drift lazily across I amsky, all around you. The majestic standing towers of trees. I amabundant, home to many lives. Hushed, the creatures in the woods and streams stop, As on the miracle of nature, the sun is almost below the top. Butthey I canreflect get diseases. Diseases can kill me. We must stop, and reflect in retrospect, that this has happened for centuries. The becalmed country-side, You peaceful need me silence, becausethe I give you food and oxygen.are together at dusk, To consider the day past and plan the You need food and oxygen to survive. strategy for tomorrow, Will mankind be joyful You need to protect me.or truly filled with sorrow? For wekill must on and earth to be because in harmony If you merealize I can’tthat give we youare food oxygen I’m with dead.nature. We too can be replaced, not only by nature’s whim, but by our own folly. You have to try doing helpful things for me. The babbling brook tells us the story, if we will only listen, As the last rays of sun reflect our lives and make the lakes glisten. So must we reflect on life, our purpose and our destiny. As the hawk glides silently, high overhead, we must regard nature, Not with fear or contempt, but with respect and thankfulness of its design. The tranquillity we need is here; in the countryside, at this hour in time.

Promised Land

By/par: Julia Nellie Blushak

*Winner/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général to mirror a gagnant: promisedCategory/ land adulthood evaporates backward so naive, beautiful, green-hearted I am plants. you want to eat dirt forever I have a life. I am all around you. better to devise intricate I am home to many lives.machinery subsistence tools for transformation But I can get diseases. each moldcan willkill cleave Diseases me. time asunder recreate every thing with singularity You need me because I give you food and oxygen. while you food still remember toto bury your own You need and oxygen survive. aYou mist swaths the fields need to protect me.at harvest If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

Returning

By/par: Julia Nellie Blushak

*Winner/ Returning gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général I might imagine between the facts and prop mantras old fruit trees full of Ibeside am plants. cherry kisses Iboys haveand a life. –I am andall wonder aroundwho you. them. Imarried am home to many lives. I would account for farmers But I can getgone diseases. and those now Diseases can killrich me.who water shapely pools for relaxation. Thenneed I’d discuss lake effect You me because I give you food and oxygen. with the tourists who You need food and oxygen to survive. observe You needthe to landscape, protect me. almost dense-green as before, with wrinkled If youeyes kill me I can’tshrewd. give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. IYou should recall real have to try doing helpful things for me. hardship but disapproval from the righteous would come first like the stiff signs between acres of shopping and streams of traffic. I might ask how land ripens into gold, for whom and for how long? I could sing to myself about a place where life is short and everyone is hungry. It wouldn’t really fit the scene but, really, neither would nouvelle cuisine.

Notre Terre

By/par: Maria Maletta

*Winner/ gagnant: Catégorie: General Public/Public général Elle est verte, elle estCategory/ jaune Elle est une source Même si elle est mauve I am plants. On l’a adétruite I have life. On a détruit là you. I am all around si onto nemany le demandait IMême am home lives. pas On l’a fait quand même But I can get diseases. Elle respire, Diseases canelle killnettoie me. Elle est ici pour un long temps Même quand elle est disparue You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. On détruite Youl’a need to protect me. On a détruit là Les forêts, lesIécosystèmes If you kill me can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. On n’a pas mesuré You have to try doing helpful things for me. La nature commande qu’on soit respectueux Mais la façon dont on le montre N’est plus ce qu’elle veut La terre, elle est toute la nature Elle n’est pas une propriété solitaire Elle est là pour tout le monde Elle est là, solidaire Parce que la nature a toujours été là

L’amour de mère By/par: Elaine Donck

*Winner/ Une petitegagnant: graine se Category/ niche dans Catégorie: General Public/Public général La protection de la Mère Nature. Elle pousse, elle change, moment quand elle émerge du sol. IJusqu’au am plants. premier ISon have a life. aperçu du soleil : visage de Maman. ILeam all around you. Elle lui sourit. Maman pleure, IQuand am home to many lives. Une prière pour la santé de son enfant, La plante tend la main vers le haut, But I can get diseases. Pour la consoler. Diseases can kill me. Avec le temps, elle continue de tendre la main, Elle pousse, change, You need meelle because I give you food and oxygen. Jusqu’à ce que la plante fleurisse, une belle source de You need food and oxygen to survive. vie, d’amour, de sécurité, et la santé pour les autres. You need to protect me. Mais ses racines restent toujours avec la mère. Il faut qu’elles avec If you kill me I restent can’t give youelle, food and oxygen because I’m dead. La petite fleur est sous la protection de me. la Mère Nature. You have to try doing helpful things for Nous tous avons besoin d’amour pour pousser.

Untitled

By/par: Sabrina King

Imaginez un *Winner/ gagnant: monde où Category/ les ravageurs Catégorie: sont abondants, General Public/Public général Où aucun grain de blé ne touchera nos dents. L’eau est contaminée par des impuretés, il n’y a plus de conservation ni de biodiversité. IEtam plants. I have a life. Imaginez, maintenant, I am all around you. si ce monde continuera De pesticides I ampropager home todes many lives. dans l’environnement. Les émissions de gaz à effet de serre Se disperseront à travers l’atmosphère. But I can get diseases. Diseases can kill me. Imaginez les abeilles qui mourront de faim, Après queme les because fleurs succombent à la fin. You need I give you food and oxygen. Les champs, une fois une culture pittoresque, You need food and oxygen to survive. Deviennent terrains You need to des protect me.de sauterelles grotesques. Imaginez monde étaitfood comme celui-ci.because I’m dead. If you kill si menotre I can’t give you and oxygen Certes, l’agriculture est protégée par la You have to try doing helpful things for bureaucratie. me. La vie de nos plantes ne serait en aucun danger, Il n’y aurait aucune raison de nous inquiéter… Arrêtez d’imaginer, ceci est la réalité ! Notre agriculture disparaît sous nos nez. Il faut commencer à prendre soin de la vie, Sinon, notre place sur la terre est finie.

Untitled

By/par: Nikki Abbruscato

*Winner/ J’étais une gagnant: pousse quiCategory/ a grandi etCatégorie: grandi General Public/Public général J’ai une tige et deux grandes feuilles Je suis très très jolie prospère IJeam plants. au soleil et fais sourire les gens leuradonne IJehave life. de l’oxygène et un cadeau pour la maison La plupart des gens I am all around you.ne comprennent pas mon importance je doistorester bonne santé, pour les prochaines générations IMais am home manyenlives. J’ai besoin de boire de l’eau, comme vous le feriez MaisI can pourquoi la vôtre est filtré, et la mienne est polluée ? But get diseases. Au milieu d’un sale, je ne vivrai pas Diseases can killenvironnement me. Pourquoi tu t’en fiches-tu ? Tu ne survivras pas sans moi Cette année dédiée, plantes qui aspirent à la vie You need mem’est because I givepour you les food and oxygen. Mais c’est aussi pour vous, car nous travaillons en équipe You need food and oxygen to survive. Alors rendez-moi service, prenez soin de la terre You need to protect me. Pour qu’un jour, une petite personne aura chance de segive souvenir de and oxygen because I’m dead. If youlakill me I can’t you food son grand-père et sa grand-mère. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

Le monde est incroyable

By/par: Samantha Lilly Anne Phillips

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général De nombreux sites rayonnent, et pourtant de nombreux autres sont horribles à visiter. Plus nous nous soucions, recevons. Iplus am nous plants. de cette terre, IHabitants have a life. il est de notre de la garder propre. I am all aroundresponsabilité you. les plantes et les arbres qui nous donnent de l’oxygène pour respirer, IPour am home to many lives. pour les animaux qui nous procurent de la joie et pour enfants et nos familles, But I cannos getfuturs diseases. c’est à nous de créer Diseases can kill me. un monde suffisamment sain pour vivre. La seule façon de s’épanouir en tant que peuple, est de permettre aux fleurs aux plantes de s’épanouir. You need me because I give et you food and oxygen. Pour donner à nos vies un éclat, You need food and oxygen to survive. nousneed devons les laisser You to protect me.grandir. Le monde est un endroit incroyable. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / REMERCIEMENTS

*Winner/ gagnant: Category/ Catégorie: General Public/Public général in World Poetry Day! Thank you to everyone who submitted poetry and participated

IThank am plants.you to our judges / I have a life. Gregory Betts I am all around you. Dickinson IAdam am home to many lives.

Merci à nos juges:

Neta Gordon

But I can get diseases. Catherine Parayre Diseases can kill me. You need me because I give you food and oxygen. You need food and oxygen to survive. You need to protect me. If you kill me I can’t give you food and oxygen because I’m dead. You have to try doing helpful things for me.