“The Future Loves You Already”
Poetry Film & Benefit Print Sale
The Video is here!
The Collaboration
The poem is aspirational. It’s a vision and an invitation. And while that is lovely and hopefully inspiring, my deepest wish is for it to serve as a call to reflection and action.
After all, art has the power to instigate change and move us in our real lives. As this project evolved over the first few months of 2021, it became important to me for it to have a “real world” connection, one that would challenge us to not only imagine a different future, but also to do the hard work of looking at and addressing the places of disconnect between where we’ve been, where we are, and where we say we want to go.
Mindy Tsonas Choi and Kerra Bolton are two such people who are doing just that in profound and powerful ways. Their life's work is transformative on both personal and collective levels.
The poem imagines a future that Mindy and Kerra are actually creating, which is why I was thrilled to be in creative collaboration with them in the spring of 2021. For every print sold from the limited-edition run, 80% of the proceeds went towards supporting these two amazing projects. Altogether, this collaboration raised $9,000!
The Be Seen Project is a community-based model that centers and uplifts BIPOC artists and activists whose work is not only challenging old narratives but actively bringing new ways of being to life. Mindy's work reflects so many of the words in the poem—honest, joyful, accountable, belonging.
Return of the Black Madonna documents Kerra’a epic journey of learning to swim and dive sunken slave ships. She is literally diving into both the past and the future simultaneously. The word “reclamation” appears in the poem, and I see Kerra's work as an embodiment of that.
Credits
Video Editing: EASEL/Jen Lee Productions • Music: "Flowing" by Borrtex • Limited Edition Print: Liz Kalloch
Limited Edition Print
“The Future Loves You Already” broadside is 11” x 14” printed on a beautiful textured paper, ready to be framed or hung on your wall as is! Perfect for your home, office, classroom, place of worship, or as a graduation or birthday gift.
The 100 limited-edition prints are now SOLD OUT.
The print is now available for sale in the shop, and you can support the Be Seen Project and Return of the Black Madonna by visiting their respective websites.
The Future Loves You Already
The future is queer. The future is poetry.
The future is every shade of brown.
The future is indigenous.
The future is reclamation.
The future is accountable. The future is joyful.
The future is honest. The future is ancient.
The future is unimaginable.
The future is breathing its first breath
and crying its first cry.
The future is a midwife, a birthing body,
a moment to grieve,
a bowl of food, a shelter of belonging.
The future strips the wallpaper and reveals
the raw beauty
of what never needed to be improved upon.
The future is a forest grown from ash
and an ocean free of trash.
The future speaks truth to power until power
is no longer a weapon
but a sacred tool to wield with care.
The future throws its head back in laughter.
The future takes up so much room
we can't help but expand in her presence.
The future eats fascists for breakfast.
The future isn't waiting for you to be ready.
The future loves you already.
The future honks in the driveway.
Get in. Let's go.