Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Poetry Month #1: Earthseed by Octavia Butler



This poem has been a favorite for years without my ever thinking much about the poet who happens to be a woman science-fiction writer. Finally, I read one of her novels ... what a mind. Parable of the Sower haunts me.


Earthseed
by Octavia E. Butler
Here we are –
Energy,
Mass,
Life,
Shaping life,
Mind,
Shaping Mind
God,
Shaping God.
Consider—
We are born
Not with purpose,
But with potential.
All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.




Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

2 comments:

  1. You make my heart sing with this poem and song this morning.

    Thank you!

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  2. I love Octavia Butler's mind and heart. Its evolved consciousness and beauty and depth.

    ReplyDelete