Author: Tenneson Woolf

Monica Pohlmann’s poem below immediately touched me. She shared it last summer at an Art of Hosting training near Calgary, Alberta. Monica describes very well the experience of moving to a new world view. More of her work is on her website.

New Country

I have already moved to another country.
Already think in a new language.
Borders crossed and boundaries now much expanded.

I have caught a glimpse of how big life is
and how much bigger I could be.
Capacity threshold so much larger than I realized.

How to translate this to the motherland?

I loved there authentically.
Still do.
But I think in a new tongue now
and must claim on this new land the life that is truly mine.

I met Diana Durham April 2008. Her poetry is beautiful. Her spirit is irrepressible. Here website is here. She emailed this poem a few days ago. Loved it.

Light Hearted

the molecules of glass
match the frequencies of light

which is why we have windows
and not dense dim rectangles
of other matter
to look through darkly

and how we can see, while still
indoors, the grass and green leaves
of gardens;

when we go outside it is the same
but unframed, larger, wider
views of plane-trailed skies.

so is our heart the framer
of all clear sight, its frequencies
know light and that something
larger lies beyond

which is why when they match
we no longer take ourselves
too seriously, seeing that
light always makes us lighter.

Monica Pohlmann’s poem below immediately touched me. She shared it last summer at an Art of Hosting training near Calgary, Alberta. Monica describes very well the experience of moving to a new world view. More of her work is on her website.

New Country

I have already moved to another country.

Already think in a new language.

Borders crossed and boundaries now much expanded.

I have caught a glimpse of how big life is

and how much bigger I could be.

Capacity threshold so much larger than I realized.

How to translate this to the motherland?

I loved there authentically.

Still do.

But I think in a new tongue now

and must claim on this new land the life that is truly mine.

Invitation

Photos — People, flipcharts, cafe table snippets that turned out well.

Strategies for Engagement — A few notes and principles from one of the open space sessions in which I participated

Landscape Map — Overview of the day, including agenda, framing poem, voice call-outs from cafe, open space topics and one-line summaries of learning from each

Open Space Harvest Worksheets — From two one hour time slots. Also includes community announcements.

Key Learnings, Offerings, Needs — Participants wrote these after participating in Open Space sessions.

Wordle Graphic — Key Learnings

Wordle Graphic — Offerings

Wordle Graphic — Requests