Wilder than Redemption

Inspired by the work of Báyò Akomolafe philosopher, writer and activist.

free yourself from the thicket 
of splintered branches 
you wove from broken promises 

tie your hair
with the tangled twigs 
of your lost identities 

thicken your resolve 
with pollen and powdery mildew 
harvested from your deepest regrets 

write a thank you note 
to anyone who hurt you 
with ink crafted from 
the crushed petals of blossoms
that thrive 
   in the deepest heat 
      of the heart 
         of the summer:
red dahlias
   purple loosestrife
      orange day lilies 
         and golden coreopsis  

honour the thorny seeds
of trauma that have lodged
in your soft human flesh
and let them be part of you 

all of these acts might teach you 
to be wilder than redemption—
a light-filled being  
pledged to fertile soil
blessed with warm rain 
sung to by mycelium 
and held by roots stretching 
deeper in the earth 
than you could ever know 

perhaps there is no poetry in this
only the magnificent grief
of becoming planthroposcene

---

Be careful with healing.
Be careful with wanting to recover from the thing that gets in the way, the traumatic experience that upsets smooth continuity.
Be careful with wanting to remove the thorn in your flesh. It may just be that the thorn sits still to teach us that we are wilder than recovery, nobler than the taxonomy of compliance that manufactures wellbeing-so-called.
It may just be that the thorn wants to teach our human flesh that we are also plants.

Báyò Akomolafe*

---

Gardens can be redemptive; as evidenced by the many forgiving blossoms that have graced my own this summer.

Bayo Akomolafe’s quote comes from Facebook post on June 20, 2025.