AWAKEN: A Spoken Invocation in Three Movements
By Ahza Rex
[INTRO]
(Spoken slowly, facing the audience)
“This is a summons. A breath. A remembering.”
“Let the land speak through me, and may it stir something long forgotten in you.”
Part I: Wake Up (The Summons from the Earth)
(Voice low, earthy, grounded. Speak like you’re speaking to a child who is waking from a long
dream. Let space between phrases. This is the land speaking through you.)
Wake up my child,
Smell the air.
Run your fingertips through my vines and across my smooth, waxy, lined leaves.
Place your palm against my furrowed bark.
Feel the soft prickly blades of grass tickle your toes.
The cool sweat above your brow.
Feel my sultry breath.
(Pause—inhale)
Reach out your fingertips.
Let the air swirl around your fingers,
Wrapping around your hand,
Circling your arms.
Feel it across your body and through to your other fingers
As a shiver makes its way down your spine.
(Pause
—
more direct)
Tell me, child, what feels good?
The smooth plastic and metal shells?
Extracted, over-processed, hardened.
A coldness with no breath, as the Earth cries out?
These minerals were here to give all my children abundance!
My fungi… providing psilocybin, statins, penicillin, ergot alkaloids…
Forming networks to distribute nutrients to heal and grow!
(Let energy rise)
My child — wake up!
I have given you this land to be stewards!
Touch my soil. Taste the minerals upon your lips.
(Slow, sensual)
Is it sweet?
Bitter?
Salty?
Nutty?
Chocolaty?
Rich?
Taste my herbs—chives, garlic, rosemary, oregano.
Was it not I who gave you ginger, mint, honey to ease your throat?
Nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric to warm your bones?
zesty sparks dancing on your tongue—
Peppers, lemons, coriander—
As the land shimmers with heat,
The horizon wavers in the swell.
Smell my floral fragrance:
lilac, lavender, jasmine,
The mighty rose—rich, warm, welcoming, elegant in its aroma.
(Let the wind move in your voice)
Hear the rustling as the wheat and barely grow across the Great Plains.
The pinging sound of reeds as the bearded tit flutters about.
Do you see them dancing?
Hear the rattle of chiles shake as I pass by.
My child—put your head against my bark,
Taste my sap—do you taste the maple, walnut, hickory, birch?
Place your ear and listen.
(Long pause)
My child, do you heart it?
Do you hear the beating drum?
(Build slow rhythm)
It is calling…
Wake up.
Wake up and answer the call.
(Beat fist on chest or drum: THUMP thump THUMP thump)
Child of Earth and Air—will you answer my call?