Heather Britt, Independent Change Story Harvester (Spain)
My road to Kathmandu. I will board the airplane in Malaga, Spain. I am a new immigrant to Spain, and I moved here to be closer to my diaspora family. My refugee family and immigrant status are things I have in common with a growing percentage of the world’s population.
My job and my organizational affiliation? I am a freelancer in a field that has been disrupted significantly by shifts in international systems, dismantling of democratic institutions and AI. Many others are also experiencing significant disruptions in their livelihoods.
My journey to Kathmandu involves preparing my mind to engage in collective imagining for the Possible Now Summit. When Nishchhal Kharal posed his generative questions about telling new stories, I turned to poetry for inspiration. Reading and writing poetry reshapes our minds so that we are ready to meet each other at the edge of the unfolding now.
Poetry is a conversation on the frontier of dreaming.
It is a place where we
meet across time and distance
to nourish our imaginations and
nurture possibilities.
Poetry enlivens language,
the compost of our shared experience and collective past.
We rearrange words in surprising ways
leaning into new meanings, playful and paradoxical.
Reading and writing poetry, we turn our faces to the sun,
We feel the sap quicken, life juices leaping,
sweeping away lethargy and languor.
Poetry fortifies us against toxic forces,
the incessant demands on our attention, the algorithmic grooming,
the social media (force) feeding, the addictive consumerism,
the relentless drumbeat of headlines about terrible events and violent systems.
We want to convene a conversation on the frontier of dreaming.
We want to plant a garden here, a place to gather, to tell new stories.
Bring your story to Kathmandu. Help plant a poetry garden to nourish the Possible Now community.
