Seed & Bloom
Seed & Bloom
by Chef Gunjan Koul, Poems by Chef Marcus Orange and Chef JB Chavez
This was originally published in the SeedBroadcast agri-Culture Journal #24
These poems were created inside the Penitentiary of New Mexico, in a place defined by incarceration and also by creativity, care, and connection. As part of the Seed & Bloom program, which centers joy and supports meaningful pathways toward reentry, students are invited to explore self-expression and memory through art and poetry.
Our work moves across many spaces within the prison, from the facility kitchen to our farm to the classroom. In all these spaces, we refer to students as “Chef” followed by their name. It is a small but intentional practice, one rooted in respect and in the belief that we meet each other as equals, everywhere we work together.
Chef Marcus Orange joined Seed & Bloom at the start of this year. He brings a steady light into every space he enters, whether in the classroom, in culinary work, or out on the farm. He is curious, kind, funny, gentle, and deeply talented. There is something special in watching him come alive in his writing, in seeing the excitement he carries when he shares a new poem.
It is a privilege to know him, to learn from him, and to work alongside him. I hold a deep respect and admiration for Chef Orange. I hope these poems are only the beginning of the many ways his voice will travel beyond these walls. May what he has planted continue to grow, and may those blooms find their way to you.
Chef Gunjan Koul (founder/facilitator, Seed & Bloom)
Water Me
Chef Marcus Orange
Water me.
Water the seed destined to succeed.
Intertwine your vines with mine and together lets reach for the sky.
United stalk cultivated in southwest soil in a group of at least touching the stars is average.
Play keep away with being normal.
Strive to maintain a thinking cap nurtured with sprinkles of greatness fertilizer.
Positive energy in a field of dreams aiming to unchoke the world with this thing we call anti oxygen neutralizer.
Pour in more love and weed out the hate.
Love me like an infant on the chest of their mother without a worry in the world.
Love me the way the baby smiles on that chest not knowing everything’s ok.
Emerge from the earth with me in this fashion and way.
Water me like it’s last night and you had expectations of me being extraordinary for you today.
Love and water me today.
***
I’m a rose that grew in concrete.
Don’t dwell on my crooked peddles and all of my downfalls.
Marvel over the fact that I even made it at all.
Look at the soil I was brought up in.
My rain came because god cried on deadly club nights and let the piss in broken elevators seep in.
Prostitutes made up hems and tended my field as I grew roots and broke free above the soil.
Pimps babied my leaves and gangsters shed the tears that washed and sanitized them for me.
So many of my fellow flowers didn’t get this opportunity to blossom and bloom.
Pestilence and moles seen to that but that’s ok.
I’ll stand tall and be a part of the positive percentage for them today.
I get to be the exception and touch the world.
A refreshing fragrance and wave in the wind.
Somebody’s unexpected whiff and smile in the end.
Please don’t bottle me though.
When I wither and get too old spread me back in the concrete I ballooned from as fertilizer to help the next generation grow.
Chef Marcus Orange joined Seed & Bloom at the start of this year. He brings a steady light into every space he enters, whether in the classroom, in culinary work, or out on the farm. He is curious, kind, funny, gentle, and deeply talented. There is something special in watching him come alive in his writing, in seeing the excitement he carries when he shares a new poem.
It is a privilege to know him, to learn from him, and to work alongside him. I hold a deep respect and admiration for Chef Orange. I hope these poems are only the beginning of the many ways his voice will travel beyond these walls. May what he has planted continue to grow, and may those blooms find their way to you.
Chef Gunjan Koul (founder/facilitator, Seed & Bloom)
Looking Out From Within
JB Chavez
Day to Day I Look around and
Everything is the same
In this place there’s little growth
And less change
But out my window something is different
I see a sprinkler in the courtyard
And two men watering our garden
As the days go by I start to notice change
I can hear the water fountain flowing
But I can see the grass is greener
And the flowers are sprouting
Now that I sit and watch our
garden grow from Seed & Bloom
I see that growth takes time
But can bring beautiful change
Chef JB Chavez is a devoted reader and learner, someone who moves through the world with curiosity and care. He is a natural leader, a keeper of peace, and a steady source of inspiration within the Seed & Bloom community. JB holds both lightness and depth with ease. He can reflect with an open and vulnerable heart, and just as quickly offer a joke that brings smiles to everyone around him. JB has a way of making everything around him shine.
Gunjan Koul (she/her) is the founder and director of Seed & Bloom, a horticulture and culinary arts program based inside the Penitentiary of New Mexico. She holds a certificate in therapeutic horticulture from the New York Botanical Garden and has spent nearly a decade working in carceral spaces. Her work is grounded in a deep belief in the healing power of plants, especially in places where joy is often kept at a distance. Together, their work reflects a shared commitment to creativity, growth, and the possibility of transformation.