Jayeesha Sutta
Isle de Jean Charles - photo taken by Jayeesha in 2017 of baby saplings growing where indigenous land is sinking the fastest in the US. Jayeesha considers herself, and her climate justice work, to be directly accountable to Chief Albert Naquin and the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw.
Dutta Family Orchard - photo of guanabana/soursop in Jayeesha's family orchard in the summer of 2021 when her family recently moved to the lush and biodiverse Indian River Lagoon region of South Florida. Her family is enjoying the daily bounty from the dozens of mature tropical fruit trees planted from seed on the property by the previous Guyanese family - who still by often come to visit and harvest from the trees!
George Carter mural at ExhibitBe - photo taken by Jayeesha in 2015 of a mural depicting George Carter, a youth organizer and friend of hers, who was murdered in 2014. This tribute mural was at ExhibitBe, the largest ever street art installation in the US South and considered by some to be the "the most important New Orleans artwork of the 21st century."Rio Bravo Action Camp - the first ever direct action training camp in the Rio Grande (aka Rio Bravo) Valley, hosted by Another Gulf Is Possible in 2018, the Gulf South to Global South climate justice collaborative Jayeesha co-founded.
Floating Gardens (and schools, and villages) of Bangladesh - Jayeesha is a daughter of Bangladesh, her adopted grandfather was one of the first martyrs in Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971. While the next fight for Bangladesh's survival is around climate change, there are already many ancestral practices such as floating gardens, schools, and villages, that we can all learn from as we all adapt to the changing conditions of the climate. Photo by Amy Yee from this 2014 NY Times article.
eco means home
by jayeesha dutta
where is home?
is it where
you rest your head nightly hoping
to wake up safe
with every thing still intact, whole, and healthy
or
and
what it could be
home is deeper
than sleep
maybe it’s time to rise shine and see
the truth
is we don’t
know
what tomorrow brings anymore
in this threshold of raucous uncertainty where we can
explore what home means
beyond the material and the trivial
as we move thru
new portals of eternal migration
displacement from the norm becomes all we
know
turning
us
into pawns of colonial games and capitalist fever dreams
find home how
in your heart now
for the healing you create there starts the ripple
to give people and the planet a clue
start with you
The above poem is written in the "Zip Code Ode" format. Each stanza is written with 5 lines representing the zip codes I have lived in, and places I have considered home. For each line, the digit from the zip code determines the number of words for the line. Zeros were 'freebies' to use the number of words desired. Here are the zipcodes, and places that I have been blessed, honored, and grateful to call my homes.
33608 - Mobile, Alabama
11432 - Queens, New York
80304 - Boulder, Colorado
94605 - Oakland, California
70119 - New Orleans, Louisiana
34983 - Port St. Lucie, Florida
