TED Talks Daily - "Marigolds," a poem about wonder | Safiya Sinclair

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Poet Safiya Sinclair performs "Marigolds: A Letter to Wonder," an original poem she created for TED that explores memory, beauty and the fragility of life. After the poem, she talks with TED's Helen Walters about her writing process — and what it feels like when the creative muse strikes.Want to help shape TED’s shows going forward? Fill out our survey!Learn more about TED Next at ted.com/futureyouFor the Idea Search application, go to ted.com/ideasearch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Today we're bringing you a poem written and performed by poet Safia Sinclair. She shares that nature is the natural archway to wonder and asks us to consider the fragility and joys of life and to reflect on the enduring presence of our ancestors who have passed before us. And stick around after her performance for a brief Q&A between Safia and Ted's head of media and curation, Helen Walters. The Holt Renfrew Beauty Refresh offer starts soon.

Enjoy up to 20% off select beauty and grooming so that you can shop brands you love and ones you've always wanted to try. July 10 to 13 in store and online. Terms and conditions apply. Don't miss it. What matters most to you? Is it unforgettable adventures? Connections with lifelong friends? Peaceful moments of reflection?

Feelings of joy and freedom you can't wait to experience again and again? Or is it the vehicles that help you make all those special moments possible? Whatever your answer is, Toyota is here to bring you closer to the things that matter to you because they matter to us too. Toyota, for what matters most. This episode is sponsored by PWC. AI, climate change and geopolitical shifts are reconfiguring the global economy.

That's why industry leaders turn to PwC to help turn disruption into opportunity. PwC unites expertise and tech so you can outthink, outpace, and outperform. So you can stay ahead. So you can protect what you build. So you can create new value. Visit pwc.com to learn more. That's pwc.com. Pwc refers to the PwC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is

a separate legal entity. Marigolds, a letter to wonder. Dear V, I'm thinking of the garden again. White bougainvillea that made you sing, light anointing the trees, dew on the leaves, the morning wearing your promise like a veil. Here we learnt many names for joy.

My sisters, my brother and me, our knees in the soil under the cherry tree, pressing our hands into the dirt, for we were holy. Our hair-butting crowns flecked with hibiscus fringe, Anansi silk, oleander milk, and the golden herb of our names. Each day we woke in awe to a bouquet of warblers, and the two orphaned pups we'd named by closing our eyes and trying to imagine the future. This was as close as we came to prayer, Mom said. Our hands in the dirt, our wants at sea,

vast and untamable. My heart was still so eager then, my world so green. Opened under the cherry tree, pushing a packet of marigold seeds into the earth like my mother did, her hands so holy. At dawn I watched her search for sea wind and salt air, the song of her gone mother coiled inside a shell she pushed so gently into another tomorrow and another. Listening to the water, its memory, is as close as I come to prayer.

Daughter, warrior, wonder, now your little voice is on the waves recalling me. My knees in the dirt, my heart at sea, the marigolds anointing, John belly full mangoes in bloom, their petals holy, fragrant as the day still ahead of me, still slipping away to some sweet impossible under this cherry tree where I know your face and sing your name holy, your hand in my hand rocking you in the arms of my own mother, both of you pressed as tender as a seed into a poem where you might live like marigolds. Your hour bright, your wants bursting, a flower grown from fossil,

a daughter dreamt from the dirt. Thank you. I mean, that was amazing. So thank you for writing that for us. How unbelievably kind and gracious. It was my pleasure. It was so nice of you. But here's something I want to share. So you talked about your mum. Yes. That poem. And your mum is here. She is here!

Miss Esther Norvey! Miss Esther Norway! So we just have to say thank you, mama. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the beauty of your daughter. Okay, now I want to ask you a few questions. So you wrote that for us, which is just an extraordinary gift that you gave to us. But I want to just remind you of something that you said in that process,

you know, talking about this event and what might happen. You were just like, you're going to write a poem. And then you were like, we were like, well, can we have the text? And when would you think you'll be able to give it to us? We plan. And you were like, well, I don't know when you'll have the poem, because I don't know when it will arrive.

Tell us about that, and tell us about your writing process. Yes, I mean, I had all the TED people very nervous because, you know, I think everyone had their scripts in and they were practicing and they were like, Sophia, where is the poem? I said, well, the muse has not arrived to me yet. And so, you know, for me, when I think of wonder, poetry is the thing that brings me closest to wonder.

I wrote my first poem when I was 10. My mother was the person who gave me my first collection of poems. And it was something that felt so transformative, so magical. To me, it's this kind of spirituality. And so, it doesn't always come when you want it to come. And I think a lot of when I talk about poetry, I think, oh, the muse touches my head when she wants to. And so this is kind of what happened with us.

And sure enough, one day it came in a fever and the poem had arrived. So I am a very practical literal person. Yes. So when... So like when exactly? Just talk about that moment. Are you just like, I gotta go, like, I'm in the supermarket,

I gotta go, I gotta go home, I gotta write? I mean... Yeah, I mean, often it's very much like that, kind of drop everything, you know, the images are coming, the memories are coming. And this one in particular, this poem, really revolves around my childhood and this memory of growing a garden with my mother,

growing this garden of marigolds, and that too being connected to this idea of wonder, that nature really is really the natural archway to wonder. And so it came from this memory of growing the marigolds with my mom and how that's connected to poetry, to the seed, to rhythm, to music, to meaning, to understanding myself and my place in the universe. So you wrote the most beautiful memoir, which is a totally different type of writing from poetry, obviously. Yeah. How do you approach that type of writing?

Well, you're writing your life story, you're writing about the things that happened. Is that different? What's your writing for that? It's entirely different. I mean, when I began to write it, you know, you heard me talk about poetry and the way that I write it, and it's like very mystical, it's filled with a lot of uncertainty and doubt,

waiting for the muse. It turns out you can't write a 350-page book that way. Right, no, I imagine. You actually have to sit down and plan out the chapters and think about characterization and narrativization and dialogue and scenes and all of this. And so I often said writing the memoir was a lesson in humility because I really had to sit and work at it every day.

And also a lesson in being edited, because usually I write a poem, and I give the poem to my editor, and they say, thank you for this poem. You know? And, you know, when I wrote the memoir, my editor said, oh, this is beautiful, but we have some notes. And I said, notes?

What? Luckily for me, when I wrote the poem for Ted, you all were like, no notes. No notes. Which is very hard for me, an editor. But I had no notes. It's true, it's true. So I highly recommend everyone get Sophia's memoir immediately,

if not sooner. Sophia, thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you all. if not sooner. Sophia, thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you all. That was Sophia Sinclair at TED Next in 2024. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines.

And that's it for today's show. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar, and Tansika Sarmarnivon. It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balorizo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.

Thanks for listening. I'm Ilyse Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. This episode is sponsored by PWC. AI, climate change, and geopolitical shifts are reconfiguring the global economy. That's why industry leaders turn to PWC to help turn disruption into opportunity. PWC unites expertise and tech so you can out think, out pace, and outperform. So you can stay ahead. So you can protect what you build.

So you can create new value. Visit pwc.com to learn more. That's pwc.com to learn more. That's pwc.com. Pwc refers to the PwC Network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. This episode is sponsored by Sell Off Vacations. You know how sometimes a single experience, one moment, one place, can shift your perspective entirely. Travel does that. It moves us not just physically, but emotionally, even spiritually.

We deserve those moments. That's where sell-off vacations come in. For over 30 years they've been helping Canadians travel happy, whether it's a sun-soaked getaway, a cruise through the Mediterranean, or a local escape right here at home. Their community of travel experts have actually been to the places you're dreaming about, and they're ready to help you plan your perfect trip no matter your budget. Because happy travels start with sell-off vacations, and when you're ready to book, their best price promise means they won't just match a lower price, they'll beat it. That kind of peace of mind is rare and valuable.

So if you're thinking about your next trip, even if it's just a daydream, remember, happy travels start with the experts at Sell Off Vacations. Visit selloffvacations.com today. The Holt Renfrew beauty refresh offer starts soon. Enjoy up to 20% off select beauty and grooming so that you can shop brands you love and ones you've always wanted to try. July 10 to 13 in store and online. Terms and conditions apply. Don't miss it.