all power to the allotments
Elder Stubbs Festival, Oxford, Saturday 31st August 1996
humanity is born free
but everywhere is in supermarket chains
buying 14.7cm long carrots
stripped of dirt, geography, effort, labour
stripped of content, context, joy and flavour
buying 14.7cm long carrots
stripped of carrothood
No! This Can Not Be So!
This Can Not Be Right
Carrots have rights
essential, self-evident Carrot Rights
to be accepted in their diversity
encouraged in their deviancy
to be eased and shaken from their familiar earth
with inefficient and unprofitable gratitude
to be greeted by the eyes that have
followed them from seed to seedling to maturity
to be welcomed by the eyes that will eat them
only thus
only thus will we see the demise
of the 14.7cm long carrotless carrot
and
carrot by carrot by carrot
shall we pull the synthetic rugs from under
the well-heeled feet of our Super Market Masters
So
More Power to Our Elbows!
& All Power to the Allotments!
power comes from the water barrel
of an allotment shed
power comes from the meeting
of rain and earth and sun
power comes from the blade of a spade
the turning of a fork
the rhythm of a hoe
power comes from the raw materials and means of production
– seed, earth, trowel, spade, watering can –
being in the hands of the proud and sweaty producer
in generous, toiling, filthy, happy hands
connected to generous, toiling, supple wrists
connected to generous, weathered forearms
connected to generous, toiling, unsung elbows
Yes! More Power to Our Elbows!
& All Power to the Allotments!
from each according to their agility
to each according to their taste
this land yields food fit for
neither a king nor a slave
but fit for a human being
this land levels pretension
this land plays host to the revolutions of the seasons
this land cradles
roots that undermine
this land is shadowed
by the joy of leaf and flower and fruit
this land is an earthy barricade
against the fascism
of conformist
uniformist bourgeois counter-revolutionary
counter-evolutionary petite bourgeois imperialist
materialist xenophobic terraphobic petty petite bourgeois
consumerist illusionist confusionist reactionary
refractionary petty petty petty bourgeois
fascistically lit super market vegetable displays
this land is an earthy barricade
this land is an earthy serenade
this land is an earthy cascade
of root, fruit, shoot, leaf, flower
of pod of sod of
fodder for stomach, heart and soul
Comrades in spades!
Let a hundred courgette flowers bloom!
let allotments roll higgledy piggledy across the land
like a harlequin's haphazard cloak of earthy hues
Comrades in spades
we have nothing to lose
but our neonic, demonic, necrophiliac, necrophobic
supermarket chains!
More Power to our Elbows!
All Power to the Allotments!
More Power to our Elbows!
All Power to the Allotments!
More Power to our Elbows!
All Power to the Allotments!
Elder Stubbs Festival, Oxford, Saturday 31st August 1996
humanity is born free
but everywhere is in supermarket chains
buying 14.7cm long carrots
stripped of dirt, geography, effort, labour
stripped of content, context, joy and flavour
buying 14.7cm long carrots
stripped of carrothood
No! This Can Not Be So!
This Can Not Be Right
Carrots have rights
essential, self-evident Carrot Rights
to be accepted in their diversity
encouraged in their deviancy
to be eased and shaken from their familiar earth
with inefficient and unprofitable gratitude
to be greeted by the eyes that have
followed them from seed to seedling to maturity
to be welcomed by the eyes that will eat them
only thus
only thus will we see the demise
of the 14.7cm long carrotless carrot
and
carrot by carrot by carrot
shall we pull the synthetic rugs from under
the well-heeled feet of our Super Market Masters
So
More Power to Our Elbows!
& All Power to the Allotments!
power comes from the water barrel
of an allotment shed
power comes from the meeting
of rain and earth and sun
power comes from the blade of a spade
the turning of a fork
the rhythm of a hoe
power comes from the raw materials and means of production
– seed, earth, trowel, spade, watering can –
being in the hands of the proud and sweaty producer
in generous, toiling, filthy, happy hands
connected to generous, toiling, supple wrists
connected to generous, weathered forearms
connected to generous, toiling, unsung elbows
Yes! More Power to Our Elbows!
& All Power to the Allotments!
from each according to their agility
to each according to their taste
this land yields food fit for
neither a king nor a slave
but fit for a human being
this land levels pretension
this land plays host to the revolutions of the seasons
this land cradles
roots that undermine
this land is shadowed
by the joy of leaf and flower and fruit
this land is an earthy barricade
against the fascism
of conformist
uniformist bourgeois counter-revolutionary
counter-evolutionary petite bourgeois imperialist
materialist xenophobic terraphobic petty petite bourgeois
consumerist illusionist confusionist reactionary
refractionary petty petty petty bourgeois
fascistically lit super market vegetable displays
this land is an earthy barricade
this land is an earthy serenade
this land is an earthy cascade
of root, fruit, shoot, leaf, flower
of pod of sod of
fodder for stomach, heart and soul
Comrades in spades!
Let a hundred courgette flowers bloom!
let allotments roll higgledy piggledy across the land
like a harlequin's haphazard cloak of earthy hues
Comrades in spades
we have nothing to lose
but our neonic, demonic, necrophiliac, necrophobic
supermarket chains!
More Power to our Elbows!
All Power to the Allotments!
More Power to our Elbows!
All Power to the Allotments!
More Power to our Elbows!
All Power to the Allotments!
