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2005-12
This public artwork, created for the Brightwater Wastewater Treatment plant in Seattle, imparts blessings to the water, air, and biosolids treated by plant before they journey back into the larger environment.

The blessings given are the title of the artwork. Water and Biosolids blessings written by Judith Roche. Air blessing by Jane Tsong. Commissioned by 4Culture.

For video footage, see the beginning and end of Make the World Your Studio, a film by 4Culture.

For an audio tour describing the water blessings, click here.
BLESSINGS FOR THE AIR

air help us bless with each breath all creatures of land sea and air

BLESSINGS FOR THE WATER

no beginning no end
circle the earth
blessed water
blood of life


BLESSINGS FOR THE BIOSOLIDS


...for the journey of nutrients
from food to feces,
to compost and back again
to eggplant parmesan, or tabouli.

Blessings for helpful microbes,
mixing juices and decay,
their messy business of heating,
eating, discarding, transforming

one thing to another,
the fetid to the fragrant,
from waste to muck,
to rich soil for the fields.

Blessings for the biosolids,
whose elements began in burning
spheres of ancient star systems, born
of crucibles of burning light.

Praise for minerals new-mined
from stars, connecting any one of us
to Nefertiti, Joan of Arc, Attila the Hun,
Chief Sealth, salmon, centipedes:

carbon-based creatures all,
certainly the stuff of stars.
Blessings for the mighty microbes
within the core of us.

Blessing for the black gold
of rich compost, new-cleansed,
by heat and broken down
by fungi and bacteria, dried,

transformed, now, sweet and loamy,
trucked to wheat fields
of The Palouse, to fertilize
our daily bread.

Blessings for the earthy cycle
from food to waste to humus
and back again to food. Blessings...


no beginning no end/ circle the earth/ blessed water/ blood of life/air help us bless with each breath all creatures of land sea and air/ Blessings for the biosolids/ for the journey of nutrients/ from food to feces, to compost and back again/ to eggplant parmesan, or tabouli/ Blessings for helpful microbes, mixing juices and decay, their messy business of heating, eating, discarding, transforming/ one thing to another, the fetid to the fragrant,from waste to muck, to rich soil for the fields./ Blessings for the biosolids, whose elements began in burning/ spheres of ancient star systems, born/ of crucibles of burning light./ Praise for minerals new-mined from stars, connecting any one of us/ to Nefertiti, Joan of Arc, Attila the Hun, Chief Sealth, salmon, centipedes:/ carbon-based creatures all, certainly the stuff of stars. Blessings for the mighty microbes/ within the core of us./ Blessing for the black gold/ of rich compost, new-cleansed,/ by heat and broken down by fungi and bacteria, dried, transformed, now, sweet and loamy,trucked to wheat fields/ of The Palouse, to fertilize/ our daily bread./ Blessings for the earthy cycle/ from food to waste to humus/and back again to food. Blessings...


"Climbing up a stairwell to the spot where the millions of gallons of cleaned water is sent out to the sound, there is artist Jane Tsong's artwork, which actively blesses the elements of the plant (air, water, biosolids) as they depart from the treatment process and continue their life cycle into the natural world." Brightwater Project.

"Director Popiwny said the facility staff particularly connect with these poems, as it is reminder of how meaningful their work really is."

Jared Green mentions No beginning no end... in Brightwater: A Model of 21st Century Infrastructure