Spring Equinox and World Poetry Day
Celebrating nature and the written word
Hello everyone! Today, March 22, is a powerful day - the Venus New Moon, the most auspicious day of the Venus retrograde cycle happening now. Yesterday, March 21, was World Poetry Day, with people all around the world celebrating written pieces that stirred something inside them at some point in their lives. And the day before that, March 20, was the Spring Equinox, the astrological new year, the beginning of a new cycle. Everything feels fresh somehow, alive with possibility.
World Poetry Day!
Today March 21, is World Poetry Day, a UNESCO International Day which ‘celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity.’ Started in 1999, this day is recognized and celebrated by any and all, as we are all connected by the word, all able to sh…
Yesterday I was invited by Italian singer-songwriter Giovanni Caccamo to participate in a presentation of his Manifesto for Change project at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York. Not knowing the flow or mood of the event, I wrote a speech to share with the audience. At this point in my life, I usually prefer to improvise when it comes to public speaking. Last April, again with Giovanni, we did a similar presentation at the United Nations for a large group of international students representing many countries. It was broadcast and filmed, and for that event I chose not to write a speech, but to speak casually, to connect with the audience of teenagers in what felt like a more human way in such an official atmosphere.
My imagination of yesterday felt different somehow, and with so many themes to touch on, to celebrate and bring attention to, I decided it would be better to have a speech prepared, something organized to make sure I touched on everything.
As happens sometimes with imagination, it became clear upon arrival yesterday, that this in fact was much more of a casual event, so instead of sharing speeches, we sat together and had a friendly conversation, answering briefly questions about our work.
As part of the Manifesto for Change project, Giovanni prompts each person to say their word for change.
“What do you want to change in the society in which you live and how? What is your word for change?”
We each shared our chosen word and spoke about why the theme was meaningful to us. We then prompted each person in the crowd to share their words one by one.
There was something very heartwarming and beautiful about hearing each of these words, spoken in different voices, one by one as he moved down the aisle. I wish I wrote them all down, was like a rhythmic and poignant, collaborative poem.
My word for change was collaboration.
What is yours? <3
“My name is __________ and my word for change is _________.”
During the event, I spoke about the themes within my speech, but I didn’t get to share it as it was written. So I would like to share it with you today. :)
Since the event was held at the Italian Cultural Institute, portions of the speech are written in Italian. I’ve spent a lot of time in Italy throughout my life, performing and on tour. Its always been a place that’s welcomed us with open arms. In 2019 I lived in Milan for a handful of months and took immersive lessons at a language school, continued from some preparation lessons in NYC. I had an apartment near the Duomo and was very happy with my routine. I practiced speaking with friends and shopkeepers, my vocal coach, at the recording studio where I practiced piano, and performing onstage there a few times. I had planned to continue this practice, aiming to become fluent and to live a regular portion of my life in Italy. I went back to NYC in the fall of 2019, leaving behind 8 suitcases, expecting to return soon. I recorded a song I wrote in the apartment there, and I wrote another song with Italian lyrics, hoping to record with an Italian artist. Then the pandemic hit and the world completely changed. Thanks to some kind and understanding friends, my Italian suitcases remain in storage. I know some of what is in them - books and research materials, hiking and trekking gear from visits to friends in the Dolomites, maybe some pots and pans. Other than that, I’m not sure. Definitely a time capsule of those particular days.
So here below is my speech from yesterday, with links and more information about the subjects touched upon. I’m also including for fun, a voice memo of me reading it for you right now from home. If you are Italian or speak Italian fluently, please be kind - I am in desperate need of practice and still a beginner! :)
Even though I didn’t read these words out loud yesterday, I’m happy that I wrote them, and I’m thankful that I can share them with you now. <3
Manifesto for Change - March 21, 2025
Jesse Paris Smith
Ciao a tutti. Buona Primavera. Hello everyone. Happy Spring!
Grazie per essere qui stasera e grazie a Giovanni per avermi dato la possibilita' di parlare con voi per qualche minuto. Amiamo tantissimo l'Italia e gli Italiani.
Di solito faccio questo discorso in inglese ma sto studiando la vostra bellissima lingua, quindi leggero' in italiano. Siate pazienti con me, sto ancora imparando.
Mi chiamo Jesse Paris Smith e sono la fondatrice di Pathway to Paris, un'organizzazione che aiuta le citta' a passare dall'uso dei combustibili fossili al 100% di risorse rinnovabili per trasformare l'Accordo di Parigi in realta' e salvare la nostra Terra.
Abbiamo fondato la nostra organizzazione nel 2014 allo scopo di coinvolgere artisti di ogni genere nel dibattito sul cambiamento climatico e connetterli con politici, scienziati, innovatori, attivisti e legislatori in modo da creare un punto di incontro e trovare insieme possibili soluzioni per il problema del cambiamento climatico. Da allora ci impegniamo costantemente in concerti ed eventi di raccolta fondi in tutto il mondo in modo da creare consapevolezza e inspirare azioni concrete.
[Translation: Thank you for being here tonight and thank you to Giovanni for giving me the opportunity to speak with you for a few minutes. We love Italy and Italians so much. I usually give this speech in English but I am learning your beautiful language, so I will read in Italian. Be patient with me, I am still learning. My name is Jesse Paris Smith and I am co-founder of Pathway to Paris, an organization that helps cities transition from fossil fuels to 100% renewables to make the Paris Agreement a reality and save our Earth. We founded our organization in 2014 with the goal of engaging artists of all kinds in the climate movement, connecting them with politicians, scientists, innovators, activists, and legislators in order to create a meeting point and find solutions to the problem of climate change together. Since then we have consistently held concerts and events around the world to raise awareness and inspire action.]
A few words from Pathway to Paris Co-founder, Rebecca Foon, based in Montreal, Canada and me:
“To the youth present here this evening: we honor your courage, vision, and presence. You are not only the leaders of tomorrow—you are the architects of now. Across the globe, young people are rising up - demanding we reimagine our cities as places of justice and resilience. The path ahead demands bold climate mitigation and adaptation, rooted in equity, equality, and compassion. Let us build a world where every street, system, city, and community reflects our shared commitment. Your imagination is a force—trust it. Together we can shape the future with love and unwavering resolve towards a thriving and sustainable world.”
Amiamo collaborare con le persone di citta' e paesi in tutti il mondo, e dargli gli strumenti per aiutare le loro comunita'.
Credo fermamente che ogni città possa essere un punto di partenza e un esempio per altre città del paese e del mondo.
[Translation: We love to collaborate with people in cities and towns around the world, and give them the tools to help their communities. I firmly believe that every city can be a starting point and an example for other cities in the country and around the world.]
Yesterday was the Spring Equinox and also the announcement of ‘Sun Day,’ a global initiative urging the world to transition fully and immediately to solar powered energy, an achievable goal already making unprecedented strides. Costs of solar and wind have dropped significantly, and people all over the world are making the switch now, with panels and turbines being installed at record pace. In order to catch up with the climate crisis, the International Energy Administration says we need to double this pace - a tall order but 100% possible. The culmination of the Sun Day initiative’s efforts will be a major global collaboration, two days of international celebrations and festivals occurring the weekend of September 20th, during the autumnal equinox. In the words of our collaborator Bill McKibben (writer, climate expert, Founder of climate organizations 350 and Third Act, and co-architect of the Sun Day initiative), ‘this is as exciting a project as the moonshot of the 1960’s, except this time, instead of landing a couple men on another planet, we need to bring our star down to earth and power this gorgeous planet.’ So please - save the date September 20, and please talk with your friends, family, and colleagues about making the urgent switch to solar and visit the website, Sunday.earth to ‘draw your sun,’ and organize your own local events of solar celebration for September.
Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and today is World Poetry Day. Today is also the publication of Viva la Poesia, a collection of essays and reflections on poetry written by Pope Francis. In the translated words of the Pope:
“Literary words are like a thorn in the heart that moves you to contemplation and sets you on a journey. Poetry is open; it throws you into another realm”
“The artist is someone who, with their eyes, both sees and dreams; they perceive more deeply, prophesy, and announce a different way of seeing and understanding the things before us”.
“Art is an antidote to a mindset of calculation and uniformity; it challenges our imagination, our way of seeing and understanding things.”
Our dear friend Antonio Spadaro also sent me the translation of the letter Pope Francis sent to him as he compiled the text for the book, which is published here on its back cover:
Dear brother,
long live poetry! I am glad that you have collected the texts I have written over the years about the importance of poetry. I would love to see poetry take the chair in our universities!
We need to recover the taste for literature in our lives, but also in education otherwise we are like a dried fruit. Poetry helps us all to be human, and we need it so much today.
Francis
These words embody the soul mission of the work of Pathway to Paris and of the Manifesto for Change, led by Giovanni Caccamo.
In honor of nature and the written word, in honor of collaboration, and in honor of cultivating hope within our hearts, I would like to close with a poem by Wendell Berry:
We can achieve anything if we take care of ourselves, listen to each other with compassion, and collaborate. Walk together. Work together. We must find our kindred people and we must find common threads between people whose ideas are different from ours. When we truly listen, when we collaborate, we realize how interconnected we all truly are, and it becomes clear that we all want the same things: health, happiness, freedom, and the ability to thrive in a thriving world. The ideas and tools we need in order to achieve this are there awaiting us. We already have everything we need. We just need to work together.
Facciamolo insieme, collaboriamo insieme, creiamo nuove idee e nuove soluzioni.
Grazie a tutti per avermi ascoltato. Grazie a tutti per il vostro coinvolgimento, Grazie Giovanni, e buona serata!
[Let's do it together, let's collaborate together, let's create new ideas and new solutions. Thank you all for listening to me. Thank you all for your involvement, Thank you Giovanni, and have a good evening!]
Jesse Paris Smith
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
Thank you so very much for reading and for sharing in a continued celebration of Spring and Poetry. Please in the comments share any thoughts.
Here are also some prompts I would like to offer, too:
-share a poem you love, a poem you wrote
-share your personal word for change
-share your thoughts about Spring
-share something you’re excited about for this new cycle of renewal and beginning
Thank you so very much!!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend. <3 Happy Spring!
Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Jay Dee Daugherty! See you this week! :) <3
From Rose Theodora:
Aries season / Spring Equinox and the Astrological New Year is a reminder that you were born to individuate and separate from oneness so that you could have an individual experience in order to become conscious of yourself. Being conscious of self, aware that you exist as an expression of spirit, here to experience the power of creativity and divine will (will and desire that is aligned to the expression of your spirit).
During Aries season, the theme is not selfishness but self-honoring. This is the sacred right to be, the divine birthright to experience existence fully and unapologetically. Emerging from the Piscean dissolution of self and sacrifice, Aries chooses embodiment—an act of immense cosmic will. To be born is to break away from the undifferentiated whole, to ignite a flame where once there was only the vast expanse of the eternal.
Aries teaches us that life itself is an initiation, a continual forging of the self through experience, conflict, and triumph. To be human is to wield the divine spark of existence—to breathe, to act, to move forward with fearless authenticity.
Aries, the first fire sign, transmutes doubt into confidence, inertia into action, and darkness into self-awareness; we do not diminish the light of others but become beacons—reminders that life, in all its trials and victories, is a sacred gift, one that demands to be lived with unwavering presence, gratitude, and enthusiasm.
-Rose Theodora
my name is Gem and my word for change is enchantment. Everything is a poem !
Hi Jesse :) what a lovely post. I didn't realise that today was such an auspicious day! Today's the day I shared my first Substack post under a new name - *BLOOM!* and it definitely marks the beginning of a new chapter for me. Sharing more of my own work online, as opposed to the work of other people. Both are important, though. (oh and the poem, 'Space', that begins my new post, is one of my favourites and will be my offering.)
I love how you mark time and cycles in your newsletter.
My word for change is love. Love as I've come to understand it has shifted a lot for me. Love means acceptance, accepting that change can be messy, annoying, difficult, long and protracted, dissatisfying, exciting, and so on. Uniting love and change means really doing things for the right reasons -- I think change is so natural and such an important facet of life, often we spend so much time fighting against it because change heralds the unknown.