Future Green

By Kate Fagan

Published 2 November 2023

          One raindrop lands on a leaf, 
                                                trampolines off
                        a spine of Wollemia nobilis.
A cosmos has no border. Plants 
            foil taxonomy
                        as roots lift tags,
                                    trees hang nameless
            
            in nets like interstellar dust.
                                                Futures without scale
                        sleep in a seed bank
vital as thousand-year rain. Lichens form
            their own story
                        on trunks and rock walls.
                                    Tomorrow 
 
            continents will crack apart
                                                like ice shelves
                        cold in warming salt. 
Spore archives breathe an allegory made
            in grass,
                        sovereign green, 
                                    hard to classify. 

Continuing our partnership with the Royal Botanic Garden as part of our New Shoots program, award-winning poets Kate Fagan and Peter Minter were commissioned to create a series of poems inspired by the history of the Garden. These poems, including Kate's 'Future Green', were performed at a special event on Sunday 12 November and were then 'planted' in the garden.