Introduction (designed to be heard – soon you’ll be able listen to it):

When I think of my family I see a forest
A forest over Poland and Germany

And it catches alight

Only five trees will remain
My four grandparents,
And one sister of one of my grandmother’s

And those trees will move
uproot move take root
uproot move take root

And they’ll have seeds
who’ll grow
take root
move uproot take root…

And they’ll have seeds who’ll do the same

In the language of DNA
like the language of story
we use words like strand and thread

So when our parents meet, and make us
Their parents meet
Their gene strands line up on the spindle
Combine, recombine, reweave…

So each of us is the threads/weavings of our grandparents making

The four threads that make up my life are my grandparents

This is their story,
And this is my story

The universe is made of stories, not atoms…

Notes:

- The last sentence, “The universe is made of stories, not atoms” belongs to poet, Muriel Rukeyser

- Sometimes I imagine this visually, too…like a little animation with the map of Poland and Germany greened over and then catching alight…and then slowly watching the trees moving…like dots on a map.

(c) Natalie Shell