By Looby Macnamara

This cultural emergency calls for cultural emergence
A breaking through, a breaking free,
Of cultures of isms and schisms
Of gun culture, war culture, rape culture, fear culture,
Greed culture, waste culture, chemical culture,
Of corporations controlling our culture
Polluting our culture.
Peeling back the layers of oil smothering our culture
Can we connect our roots into the Earth
And reach out to fellow beings and show our care?
Can we cultivate a
Responsibility culture
Friendship culture
Kindness culture
Justice culture
Safety culture
Peace culture
A culture of innovation, resilience and hope
Can we name and create the culture we want?
A visionary, regenerative culture
Can we shift our priorities, phobias, patterns,
Parameters, opinions, assumptions?
Can we bend or bury our beliefs?
Will we?

Will we reflect, connect, respect,
The collective?
Direct our objections
To the system
That promotes disconnection.
Challenge not blame,
Name and reframe,
Shift our perspective to gain a directive
That allows us to be receptive
To the interconnected web
Vibrating with every step.

Disrupt the pattern
To awaken and challenge
And begin to unravel cords of conditioning
To release the story
And create space for visioning.
Allowing the possibility of the seemingly impossible
To motivate and invigorate
The genius inside of us.
Activate and initiate
Appreciate and celebrate
Collaborate and participate
To co-create and facilitate
The desire to germinate
And take control of our fate
Moving away from this state

Of emergency
Into a state of cultural emergence
Where we use emergence to support emergence,
With the divergence and convergence of minds
Creating designs
With the intelligence of co-operating hearts
To give us a start
On this path
Of empowerment.
To bring fulfilment
And deep nourishment
It requires commitment
To trusting the process
And opening to osmosis
Of the mystical and magical
To be alchemical
With the mathematical
For practical and logical
Action
To bring connection
And emerge the solutions
For manifestation
Of personal and global transformation.

Looby’s bio: Looby Macnamara is a permaculture teacher and author of People and Permaculture and 7 Ways to think differently. Her third book, Strands of Infinity is a collection of poetry based on the Work That Reconnects, from which this poem comes. Looby is co-founder of the Cultural Emergence project creating a toolkit for positive cultural evolution. She lives on a 20 acre smallholding in UK, which is run as a demonstration and training centre; Applewood Permaculture Centre. To get signed copies of her book and more about Cultural Emergence and her courses see http://www.LoobyMacnamara.com