no lands left here
to penetrate with flagpoles
fluttering colorful claims,
simply tilled fields
but still people
to displace and devalue
in a new imperialism
these explorers and exploiters
using maps of genome
to target areas of trade and conquest
do not claim ownership of soil
but what is buried
and grows within it
how does one patent life
and claim sole ownership?
***Thank you Jeremy for the post that triggered these lines.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
You are very welcome. I just started listening to the discussion and had to post it. I have become more and more interested not only in eco-feminism but also the relationship between intellectual property (so-called) and sustainable and subsistence agriculture.
I have a good friend who teaches on food security out in British Columbia and I am looking forward to reading his dissertation when it comes out as a book next year. He got me paying even closer attention to these issues as well as reading Raj Patel, whose work on food structures is a must-read, in my opinion, for everyone.
I am so reading it–I must!
Patel, like Shiva, is so inspiring to listen to. I heard him give a lecture on the CBC (which I will post on my blog) that spoke quite movingly about what British imperialism did to India in the 19th century, specifically the introduction of the global wheat market.
Wonderful & thanks–looking forward to hearing it 🙂
Of all the things that frighten me about corporatism and the right-wing this is probably what scares me the most. I worry about where this can lead and the cash-nexus mindset it help perpetuate.
I am glad you wrote this, especially the verses “how does one patent life/ and claim sole ownership?”
I still can’t get my mind around the idea of ownership at all.
Jeremy–the very idea of patenting the genome of plants, suing small farmers for corrupting that patented genome with their crops’ pollen, the promiscuity of GMO pollen and its rendering sterile heirloom crops are a HUGE issue for me (can you tell?)
I am a very vocal proponent of the CSA model, and volunteer at one (or try to–got lost this week trying to find the new farm I am volunteering at this summer) as a reaction to factory farming and production.
Ownership of something we all share is a strange concept, but even birds in their respective bushes are territorial, so perhaps it is biologically encoded in some species (although not all cultures see this in terms of land–but perhaps people?) Thanks for the thought-provoking comments–enjoy them immensely!
I’m a glad to know you do that kind of work. This is something I am increasingly concerned about and want to get involved with. I am concerned about the intellectual property element, the need to protect animal welfare and of course, the pursuit of food security through local, sustainable farming.
I think it is marvelous that you care so deeply and get involved to put your concern into action. Do we ever need more of that! 🙂
I think, perhaps, I need to add “eco” to that self-affirmed label of feminist I gave myself years ago.
I really think that as a parent who wants to feed her children well, as a gardener who grows things, and as a woman who walks on this planet and loves it, it is my duty to involve myself in life on it as much as I can. To me, activism is a simple response–do what is needed, and don’t be afraid to dirty your hands while doing it.
I like to look at it as getting my hands dirty too. I also have felt this growing (and very intense) feeling in recent years that I have to be out and in the world in a direct way. That I have to bear witness.
That is a beautiful way to look at it, just beautiful….and necessary. Thank you for being a witness.
I just want to make sure I find a way to make the act of witness a central part of my life always.
and you should–it is what makes you a beautiful person and poet.
So true, and ugh, so abhorrent.
Thank you, Nelle. Makes me sick.
Well written
Thanks so much.
Our new brave world! a new paradigm of food security that feeds on land, creates land poverty and appropriates biological commonwealth – seeds!
Yes, that’s it exactly–just another brand of greed and exploitation wrapped a s a solution for all…
It feels like you are talking to me and what’s happening in my country. So very bold and true. These new Columbuses are Noel’s ” Politician “. The poor are getting poorer. The rich, so filthy rich, because of “misaproproprition of biological commonwealth”. Sorry Noel, lol!
Noel uses words so well, difficult not to borrow them 🙂
Thank you so much, Patricia. It is happening everywhere, everywhere, and I only hope we can slow or alter the journey on the path it is dragging us down.