This appears as a verse at the beginning of Chapter 14 of her book, and is part of the fictional Earthseed scripture created by the protagonist, Lauren Olamina, and aligns with the central Earthseed tenet: “God is Change.”
This was also quoted by John on the vlogbrothers episode “Kindness”
The brothers’ related banter…
J: Alright, should we talk about Florida, or should we move on to, uh, the poem?
…
J: Alright, let’s move on to a poem.
H: Okay.
J: I wanted to read you this poem last week. It’s from- it was in a recent Vlogbrothers video. Have you read Octavia Butler?
H: Yeah.
J: Have you read The Parable of a Sower?
H: No.
J: You’ve gotta read that one.
H: Alright.
J: It’s the best. I’ve gone on to read like 6 Octavia Butler books in the last two weeks, but, um, this one was- this one was maybe my favorite. So it’s, uh, from Parable of the Sower, um, and it’s a very short poem today. The shortest of the short poems. Not the shortest we’ve ever done, but near!
(Reads verse)
J: It’s good, right?
H: Mhm.
J: Octavia Butler, man. One of America’s great novelists. And one I hadn’t even ever read until, like six months ago. Yeah.
H: Yeah. Uh, phoenix. Burned. I never know what to say after poems. Just think about it in silence, everyone, together.
J: I just think it’s- it’s not even really a poem, it’s just an observation. It’s just a fact about phoenixes. You know what AFC Wimbledon’s badge is?
H: Is it a phoenix?
J: It is.
H: That makes sense.
J: It makes sense.
H: Yeah.
J: Because they had to- they had to- they had to burn.
H: Yeah.
J: Before they could rise from their own ashes
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Click to read poem
In order to rise from its own ashes, a phoenix first must burn.
John Green Reads Poetry 