Utopias, Part IX
By Heidi
Komulainen
Down
with all state power!
Scatter
it among the people,
Distribute it to the townships,
Build
with love
for tomorrow’s generation.
Into
the soil of the earth
The seeds to sprout
The
trees to spread their branches.
The
birds in these branches
to strike up their harmonies.
Down
with earth-moving tractors
and prisons,
All
of this dark nation’s
mental hospitals!
People
to laugh again,
To sing their own songs,
To
grip their hands and toes,
To hear their own sobbing.
To
wet the earth with their tears,
To nourish and to cherish,
To
love and make love,
To lay a good foundation.
Published in its original Finnish in Heidi Komulainen’s blog
column in the online newspaper Kansan Uutiset on Jan. 1, 2010.
English translation by Harry Siitonen, Berkeley, CA, Jan.
12, 2010.
Who is Heidi Komulainen?
Heidi Komulainen,
26, is a graduate student living in Kuopio, Finland, where she is studying for
a masters degree at the University of Kuopio. She has a bachelor’s degree in
sociology from the University of Stockholm. A native of Jarna, Sweden, she has
lived in both Finland and Sweden. Single, she is a member of Finland’s Left
Alliance Party, which she represents on the Kuopio City Council. She is also
active in the Left Alliance women’s and youth organizations.
Heidi describes
herself as a “petite and otherwise meticulous woman. The hippie lifestyle,
feminism, and socialism melt the heart in discussing them.”
