The Project
Creation of a poem to support the online art auction organised by luxury fashion brand, Treun House Atelier in support of Orangutan Foundation for Earth Day 2022.
The online auction featured an orangutan painting created especially for the charity by Treun’s Resident Artist and acclaimed painter, Kiril Jeliazkov. US-based Kiril is well known for his vibrant use of colour and large format abstract paintings full of dancing brushstrokes.
Anthony Lovell created an exclusive poem “Vested Interest” to accompany the painting, bringing it to life in verses.
100% of the proceeds generated through the online auction raised funds to help conserve the critically endangered orangutan and its tropical forest habitat in Indonesia.
Anthony also wrote the poem “Brave Heart” encapsulating the spirit of Treun’s brand identity and vision of philanthropy through sustainable fashion.
‘Vested Interest’
Is that pathos I see in her eyes
Is it a mischievous gaze or morose
Is it a crushed spirit, a cowed look
Submission to an unknown fate, what’s next
Or a prelude to skylarking, eye-spying
Are they windows to a gentle giant soul
A sentient’s eyes can paint many a picture
Let’s see how this story goes...
She looks out, expectantly
So many verdant hues
Through the canopy gaps
Deep blue sky glimpses, shadows tinged too
What will this day bring for her
Everything she needs, that’s all
Not too much for a great ape to ask
Fruiting trees for a belly full
In return the seeds fall far, disperser
Arboreal existence, indispensable trees
A loving semi-solitary family, arms to embrace her
A Mother and older sibling to teach her
The etiquette of Orang culture, expectations
Dominant males to keep genetic invaders at bay
But they are aloof, not happy family players
Together they live, to eat and climb and play
Conceive each new generation, nature’s way
But about every eight years, no baby booming
Can’t catch up as the population goes down
She doesn’t need too much
Such is the simple, natural sentience
Of the People of the Forest
Clearly there before our kind of people
How else did they get their name
With us the problems came
She looks out, unaware
Would like to see a future
Beware, vested interests all around
Your continuity, your lifespan depends
On which vested interests are allowed to rule
Which one is most invested, determined
Existential threats can’t be ignored
Except at everyone’s peril, surely
She should see existential safety, surety
Everthing opposite to her current reality
Yet all you do is look to your mother, your kind
Those who look to the trees for living
Overlooked by those who look to the trees
For livelihood, funnelling into insatiable greed
Two stories here collide
The one she and some of we wish to see
A never ending story, happily ever after
And the rest who won’t rest
Until the Orang story is ended in the wild
If the Overstory is felled, the story is over
The grand Canopy kept it all in order
And the remnant eyes that look out longingly
Only through the bars of captivity
Some better, in suitable sanctuary
The Orangutan Foundation of caring
Compassion, vigilance and understanding
Standing between her and extinction
Still they will look and not understand
Why they can’t go back home
I hear the voice of Gabriel
‘In your eyes - the light, the heat…
I am complete’ - but for her, only in the Forest
Does she see her Forest, AKA home
An endless sea of forest greenery
That she can’t see for the trees
Or a monoculture clearing, manicured uniformity
Palm groves as far as the eye can see, obscene
Encroaching, ever encroaching
Did we mention other deforestation
Mining too and illegal logging
What she sees in the future
Depends on you and me
The only thing we wish to see
Hanging over your head, young lady
Is Forest
She steals a glance and steals your heart
Or is that glance askance
Can you blame her
Who can she look to to restore trust
To keep faith, to have her best interests at heart
Things she can’t know to ask
We have to ask on her behalf
Because she can’t see them coming
Will there be someone to adopt me
If the wrong vested interests reign
A sanctuary for protection if my forest falls victim
Someone to rescue me from carnage or captivity
Someone to protect some of my forest home
Perhaps to return some day
Yes there is we would say
There is a Foundation for hope
What’s that you’re holding onto
Just out of the picture
As your Orang spirit radiates like an ember
A life force to be reckoned with, glowing
‘Dear life’ says she
The voice of Gabriel returns:
Oh I see the light and the heat (in your eyes)
Oh I wanna be that complete (in your eyes)
I wanna touch the light the heat I see in your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
Excerpts from ‘In Your Eyes’ by Peter Gabriel from the album ‘So'
By Anthony E. Lovell
‘Brave Heart’
Only the brave
Take the hard path
Blaze a new trail
Hard choices, harder resolve
To do the right fling
Slower, more deliberate
Never a Treun word was spoken
Brave it all for you
Now it’s your return
To nature, loyalty
Flies in the face of the prevailing wind
The wrong headwind, head on
Taking us where we don’t know
We don’t want to go, but slowly
Realisation will plot the new course
Take the right flight path
They take no shortcuts
From the fields of fibres
To the cutting tables
Chalk up the fashion wins
Obey the old unspoken rules
Craft the garments, not produce
Turned away from mess of the Mass
Fashionably slow, deliberate
Reverence for natural living
Provenance of earth’s providence
Foundation of the new old belief
Nature’s new disciples
‘Return of the Acolyte’
You will know them by their raiment
Take their cues from Alba
Hues and Blues of high country
Of Lochs and rain-fed grass
Green clad Mineral munros
Look to the Uplands
Reach for Skye
Only the brave heart
Wears their true colours
Not just on their heart sleeve
The last word is the first
Returning to the origin
A Treun word is bespoken
Speaking up for a natural fashion
Accessorised with purpose passion
Workshops of artisans craft the collections
Redirect three streams to confluence
Looks good, feels great - the impact even better
No culpability in the back of your mind
Seamless again in nature
Love your style
Brave clothed in all its definitions
Layered courage-laden apparel
Mighty style, strong fashion sense
Heroic heart makes its stand
Live your meaning
Sometimes it’s good to be labelled
By Anthony E. Lovell
