what goes inside the harvest basket

performed for the Anaheim City Council, on June 11, 2024

—And when harvesting oranges, don’t forget the land who held you tenderly
through each impossible day you survived. Thank the tangled branches

for how it taught us to intertwine our souls in this dusty rumination of living.
Try to embrace the breeze who cradled the sweet symphony of blossoms in the

dry air. Wrap your fingers ‘round the rind and remember the grandmothers and 
grandfathers who taught you how to laugh through wrinkled skin and leathered 

living. Read each leaf as if it were a love letter delivered at dawn. You have

permission to be disappointed in its bitterness; sweetness isn’t universal. But
let its absence be a reminder. For a life filled with flavor is one that’s entwined,

twisting its strengths into each other, encapsulating each glowing memory, enchant
-ing us to recognize how we gather will peel back the storms keeping us apart