A slam poem by Chris Corrigan, as part of the harvest of a World Cafe conversation at the Summer Institute, June 23, 2008.

Time to reform, see our relations reborn
from the inside out watching repression die into clarity
wet in the eyes where
hope falls in
and old worlds shed their skins
and we sit in the raw light of the new.

This is what we’re going to do.

Hang on to each other through the chaos
of fucked up panic that plays us
like dupes into not knowing the truth
that everything we do is a choice.
I’m here to meet hearts
that choose authentic restarts.

Different is on its way, starting right now and later today
and tomorrow as we fly
from uplift to sorrow
we’re called into balance and focus,
hard work and hocus pocus where the magic meets the tragic
and challenge appears and our spines straighten
and urgency seers its invitation upon us.

Start here.

It’s getting late and the state of things
requires that sensitivity attention brings;
the precision of decision
the gift of the incision that cuts the bonds to the old -
something climbs…

These are the times.

We are served by our fear, present and here
and escaping the fantasy of skill
letting the messiness fill
the spaces that lie between us.

The flux between optimism and the cynicism that
paralyses our lives,
leaves us to foster the faster
speed of work and communicate the
state of things:
listen to the planet’s song. It fills our structures
and brings along a new life that comes when we fall
into the possibility that the micro births the macro,
the large from the small.

Practice moving to courage from fear
letting go of what is no longer clear.

Back to your corners
find those of like mind and appear together
as good people, impatient but kind.

Everywhere it is time to collaborate
create and elaborate
containers of capacity that resonate.

Time to come home, switch it on
dance between poles, rest in centre,
this time of change is a mentor
teaching courage to
reach back to places where each
small effort is supported by this trembling field.

Our tools are not enough - the challenge remains:
connect to source and course through each other’s veins