Acordo com medo, deito-me com urtigas

A portuguese ecosystemic poem guided by singing nettles

In the beginning of March, I led a workshop for the “Nettle tea” series hosted by the Vento e Água -Ritmos da Terra magazine.

The purpose of the workshop was to invite ecosystemic thinking and engage questioning of our consumption relationships with the Earth. The design around nettles honors the medicinal non-duality of the plant: who, in it’s annoying sting, holds the nurturing cure for many ailments connected with industrialized over-consuming societies.

Each participant, was asked to provide two verbs that spoke of their relationship with the Earth, and to fill in writing prompts of their choice. The poem is born from gathering all that was said in chat and arranging it intuitively, in organic, unplanned, (dis)order. Each line, a different voice. The result is a co-created hymn that sustains the knowledge of the collective discussion, becoming a cartography for the future.

Listen to the singing nettles (changes in nettle conductivity turned music!) while reading the woven voices of the participants (english translation at the bottom). Enjoy the pain and beauty interlaced, the paradoxical discomfort and healing of the sting!

Acordo de manhã, violência ecossistémica:

Querer,

Crescer,

Extrair,

Tirar,

Receber.

Ó, coração conturbado…

Dizem-me as urtigas: afogas-te no teu individualismo e esqueces a medicina na erva daninha.

Deixa-te picar!

Perder,

Chorar,

Amar.

Acordo de manhã, com vontade de fazer perguntas que incomodam:

Ó, corpo conturbado…

Dizem-me as urtigas: Presta atenção!

De quem te esqueces nos teus consumos confortáveis?

A quem falta

Nutrir,

Cuidar,

Escutar,

Amar.

Acordo de manhã, para abrir e sustentar conversas difíceis:

Ó, mente conturbada…

Dizem-me as urtigas: Que labuta e sofrimento invisibilizastes para vosso comforto?

Para

Explorar,

Habitar,

Sem culpa nem responsabilidade.

Acordo de manhã, e posso escolher não saber:

Ó, privilégio conturbado…

Dizem-me as urtigas: Coragem! Deserta o individualismo e re-tece na tua teia os indivíduos que olvidas, ervas-daninhas, mineiros, água, vítimas de guerra, algodão, estrume, ovelha… 

Piquemo-nos! para

Renascer,

Reencontrar,

Respirar.

Deito-me á noite, indagando qual o equilíbrio entre desculpabilização e responsabilização,

cheia de certezas, medos mascarados de razão, que não me deixam

Aninhar,

Devocionar,

Orar,

Aprender,

Ser.

Ó, ecossistema conturbado…

Dizem-me as urtigas: não tenhas medo.

A mudança sustentável nutre-se da criatividade, que vive na pergunta.

As picadas estimulam, aquecem, melhoram a circulação, acordam-nos a capacidade de sonhar diferente.

Fecho os olhos, e sonho com urtigas.

Um poema ecossistémico com vozes de: Urtica, Telma, Sofia, Maria, Iolanda, João, Sílvia, Fernanda, Luísa, Inês, Patrícia, Maria, Marisa

I wake up fearful, and lay with nettles

I wake up in the morning, ecosystemic violence:

Wanting,

Growing,

Extracting,

Taking,

Receiving.

Oh, troubled heart…

The nettles tell me: you drown in individualism and forget the medicine in the stinging nettle.

Let yourself be stung!

Lose,

Cry,

Love.

I wake up in the morning, willing to ask uncomfortable questions:

Oh, troubled body…

The nettles tell me: Pay attention!

Who are you forgetting in your comfortable consumerism?

Who must we

Nourish,

Care,

Listen,

Love.

I wake up in the morning, to open and sustain difficult conversations:

Oh, troubled mind…

The nettles tell me: which labor have you made invisible for your own comfort?

To be able to

Exploit,

Inhabit,

Free of guilt or accountability.

I wake up in the morning and I can chose not knowing:

Oh, troubled privilege…

The nettles tell me: Be brave! Abandon individualism and re-weave the individuals you forgot into your web, weeds, miners, water, war victims, cotton, dung, sheep…

Let us be stung in order to

Be reborn,

Return,

Breath.

I lay down at night, wondering what is the balance between avoidance and accountability,

full of fears masked as reason, that don’t let me

Nest,

Devote,

Pray,

Learn,

Be.

Oh, troubled ecosystem…

The nettles tell me: do not be afraid.

Sustainbale change is nourished by the creativity that lives in questions.

The stings stimulate, warm us up, improve our circulation, wake up our ability to dream the different.

I close my eyes, and dream with nettles.

An ecosystemic poem voiced by: Urtica, Telma, Sofia, Maria, Iolanda, João, Sílvia, Fernanda, Luísa, Inês, Patrícia, Maria, Marisa

You can also read ‘The cosmic (hi)story of a nettle tea’ here , which was created as the opening somatic anchoring exercise for the workshop.