Youth Voice: Spoken Word

By Orlando Vasquez, former Greater Boston Seed Crew Peer Leader and youth member of TFP’s board of trustees

September 2023

Orlando, a Peer Leader, created a spoken word piece (below) to be performed by members of Seed Crew at their Family Feast celebration on Baker Bridge Farm, marking the successful conclusion of the 2023 summer program.

We are about to talk about a workshop we did

Did in the dirt and grime of not only the farm but also society
The same tea that’s often not spoken about in reality

When you hear snap, I want to hear y’all take a snap

Let’s try…

Ok, let’s give this space to the youth

Youth of the land, youth of the farm

Let’s talk about the reality, the reality of hunger

We look to not to be hungry, hungry for love, hungry for our rights, our dreams
We are hungry for equity, equality, hungry for the security

The tea that’s not dreamt of, but the tea that’s not guaranteed

Under the Giving Tree it isn’t giving what we need

When bills pile up, there’s more babies in their hands than groceries in ours

That’s when the branch of the tree Snaps!

1, 2, 3 Snap

1, 2, 3 Snap, we are hungry for Comfort–

Comfort in our homes… comfort that we can hopefully stay safe in a place that doesn’t see us…

We are at limbo, that place in between the theoretical heaven and hell
Hello to the gray space in between black and white

When all of us get angered in the comfort of our living because we’re expected to be fine
That they don’t have the same struggles that are as powerful as you or mine

Like a fine point pen, or the fine needle on a cactus, what happens when one of us Snaps!

1, 2, 3 Snap

1, 2, 3 Snap, we want the same comfort as those with Privilege–

Privilege… I can walk in the store and throw whatever I want into the basket

The basket that society gives takes up so much less space than the grocery store, but holds so much more than the groceries can

An emergency happens and I can throw money straight at the problem

Money gives them motive, and power is just second best

Best to beat the others while I’m at it

Have someone do my work, like grabbing my food, not looking at price tags,

And all I got to do is snap

1, 2, 3, Snap

1, 2, 3 Snap

1, 2, 3 Snap, snap after 3 seconds–

Seconds… a second to some feels like an eternity to others,

Others that witness something they shouldn’t have

1! The seed that is planted, through compassion, is born and given life, taken care of

2! The seed goes through troubles and can only get that sun, that food, through screaming, crying, begging, and even then it’s difficult

3… that same plant is gone, stripped of a life that stopped before it became that Giving Tree, stripped before it got the chance to be, that same life of a kid…

Every three seconds, a child, a seed that was once planted, is gone, somewhere in this world…

But that same child who is gone, is not gone because of PRIVILEGE but lack thereof

That same child who is gone, is not gone because of COMFORT but lack thereof
That same child who is gone, is gone from HUNGER, something that isn’t lacking…

1, 2, 3, Snap

1… 2… 3… Snap…

Return of the Institute

Shindig Reflection