Before | Poetry of Mankh |Axisoflogic.com

Before there was a Russia
Before there was a Ukraine
Before there was scorched earth
Before there were high tech weapons
Before there were Nazis
Before there was Chernobyl
Before there were refugees
Before there was wounded or dying
human blood going into the ground

there were
Sunflowers growing in the fertile soil,
birds, humans and more
loving them seeds and oil,
grown by the Native Peoples of Turtle Island,
Sunflowers facing the Sun
for more than the noonday hour,
used medicinally and for flour ―
and the many colors of wildflowers growing.

Early 16th century,
Spanish sailors brought Sunflowers to Europe,
then Sunflowers into Ukraine and Russia.[1]

Before there was empire
Before industrial production
Before hybrid breeding
Before there were global supply chains
Before there were slave chains
Before there were Inquisition chains

there were
Sunflowers growing in the fertile soil,
birds, humans and more
loving them seeds and oil,
Sunflowers facing the Sun
for more than the noonday hour,
used medicinally and for flour ―
and the many colors of wildflowers growing.

Now, with Ukraine as the largest producer of Sunflower oil
and Russia as the largest producer of fertilizer[2]
what a perfect combination for working together,
for working with the Earth’s fertile soil
that feeds the birds, humans and all
loving them seeds and oil,
Sunflowers facing the Sun
for more than the noonday hour,
used medicinally and for flour.

NOTES:
[1] “History of the sunflower”

[2] “U.S. Media Decries Brutal Russia Invasion of Ukraine—Yet an Intrepid Reporter Finds that the Russians Were Welcomed as Liberators in the Southern Ukrainian City of Henichesk along the Sea of Azov”

Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is an essayist and resident poet at Axis of Logic. Check out his newest book Moving Through The Empty Gate Forest: inside looking out.

In addition to his work as a writer and small press publisher, he travels a holistic mystic pathway staying in touch with Turtle Island. His website is here.

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