when words were earth

This was contributed by Madeleine Marie Slavick, a Hong Kong poet, photographer, activist and fabulous woman. It's the last part of an essay.

when words were earth

Activism seeks to educate, to promote seeing that which is not always apparent or easily represented, that which is obscured and obfuscated, that which challenges the status quo, and that which we are not allowed to see, let alone comprehend, through our mainstream media. It begins with a cry followed by a charge to action, motivating us to change that which is clearly unjust, unjustified, reckless and sinister.


Poetry on the other hand, invokes our sense of justice through a sublime knowing, through the epistemology of experience, of the senses. Through poetry, we understand longing and separation. Pressed: When Words Were Earth, by Andrew Johnson is distinctly an amalgamation, a hybrid text, a poetic activist desire for something other than what it is.
It is a witness, a gesture, a reminder, a call.

-b. h. Yael, 2005
(filmmaker, professor, installation artist,
www.bhyael.com)