INSTRUCTIONS FOR RECITATION

(Artist welcomes audience and invites them to invigilate recitation) In a moment I will be reciting for you a list of names of the 13 different types of organic green manure in latin. I will be inviting you to invigilate my performance from a typed list of names in latin to prompt me from, should I go wrong.

THANKS
(Artist gives thanks for the space & time) Before we begin can I ask you all to line up along either side of my bed and to stand as near as possible so that you can hear the recitation clearly should I go wrong.
ABSENCE
The 'wrongseed' recitation grew out of a desire to make a connection between the land and the body, both corporately and privately. Reflecting upon ideas of impermanence and our commonality as a group, and the insignificance of human life in relation to nature, I wanted to create an action that showed this.
THE AUDIENCE
(Artist recites 13 names of green manure in latin to audience) The audience's task of invigilation is a success, as I forget several latin names and make wrong pronounciations; the audience insist on a repeat of the recitation of all 13 latin names.
INCANTATION
(Audience & Artist recite in unison) The final recitation was a group of people standing around a freshly dug-out plot of earth, measuring the size of a single bed, and chanting over the plot in latin, the 13 names of organic green manure.

NOURISHMENT FOR THE SOIL
My neighbour Claire, who has rented her allotment in Mill Hill East for over 20 years, suggested that I plant Hungarian ryegrass because it would provide nourishment for the soil. Hungarian ryegrass is a green manure, and one of the best for sowing over the winter months. Sown in August/September, or as late as October in the south, it provides a good cover crop to prevent nutrient leaching during the onslaught of the winter and benefits the structure of the soil. When it grows in spring to an approximate height of 12 inches or more, it is cut down and dug back into the soil releasing nutrients; particularly good in clay soils.

RETURN TO BED
I've visited my bed-sized plot twice since the poet and artist's event last autumn. As soon as the weather permitted, I returned to check for signs of life, I was eager to see how high the hungarian ryegrass had grown. All my online searches of this green manure had shown a grass that grows to at least a foot or more high. I was looking forward to laying down in the grass and marking out a space with my body.