Three Sisters
By Gracelyn Abel
The sunlight dances and sways, dangling rays hitting my back as I breathe a deep breath that the wind brought me.
My dance is a language, to be a teacher, to lead the people in reciprocity.
I carry one sister wrapped around my body, the other lolls at my feet, our leaves terraced with care to leave room for one another.
My sister tangles her arms around me, her extroverted roots speaking kindly with rhizobium, they answer shyly:
“We’ll give you nitrogen if you would consider gifting us sugar and a home without oxygen” And so the middle sister of mine gifts us all nitrogen.
While I tower high, little sister scatters low, reaching and spreading vines and branches. She’s content to be on her own.
Prickly skin ensures her own space, her leaves broad to displace any who try to take that away.
She protects us all from unwanted guests by her choice in dress, in her constant conquest to cover the ground she invests in keeping water where it rests.
Harvested, we feed the people completely. Grown together we have a greater yield capacity.
That’s our teaching, our lesson to the community. Work together and everyone eats. Give freely the abundance given to thee. Don’t be greedy. No one should be needy.
Let this be the start to healing a system so broken it’s separating my sisters from me.
Sitting in a field by myself is so lonely, the people need chemicals to keep me from being eaten by creatures crawling .
I have a longing to return to my family when poisoning profits are not put above listening to our calling of giving and receiving.
I sing for new starts to an old beginning.
Gracelyn Abel is a student of life as well as academia, currently getting her bachelors in Sustainable Food and Bioenergy systems. When she’s not attempting to dismantle the broken global food system, she is drinking coffee, sun soaking, plant pondering, or snacking on some fresh vegetables. She recently finished producing the short documentary The Butterfly Effect, soon to be featured at a film festival near you! Follow her on Instagram here!
Photography by Gracelyn Abel