The Writing Project

POETRY FOR NOW!

Share your poems or stanza writing about relational changes and their unfolding consequences across human and non-human systems

Hosted by Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice

The writing project

Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice is more than a systemic professional academic journal. It is a community writing project to encourage the systemic community to feel their thoughts, voices and experiences are worth hearing in a number of experiemental writing or multi-media forms as well as through professional academic writing.

Why Now?

We are in critical times.

We need new ways

of responding – reflecting – speaking out.

This writing project is a space

for us

systemic practitioners

systemic thinkers

to find ways

of speaking

about our experiences

of documenting

our noticings

of highlighting

our concerns.

Our writings

can help us all

make sense

of how our worlds are changing

We can create community.

We can.

The first project was The Pandemic as Systemic Flux Writing Project which ran between May 2020 – May 2021.

Poetry For Now is our second writing project encouraging stanza led, poetic, musical forms of expression, of capturing the more subtle challenges of working or living in this world.

We need

systemic people to speak to us

from across transdisciplinary communities

to join different perspectives

and create new connections.

We need

writings from the heart,

from kitchen table to train

from top floor flat to windowless office.

We all

have tales to share

about people – our work -our lives -our many different selves.

How time has changed.

How numbers have become meaningless

and shocking in the same

moment.

We are trained to notice.

We are schooled in finding ways

of speaking

to things

things often

so slippery

so prickly

so shapechanging

that our sentences

flinch

refuse to run smoothly

So many things

cannot be spoken in paragraphs.

And

let’s face it…

no-one speak in prose

anyway.

Systemic Flux

Systemic flux is a term we are using to draw attention to emergent processes with many kinds of relational consequences. Different shape-changing systemic and relational processes are affecting – and being affected by – human and non-human lives/materials, ideas, narratives and values. These movements can unfold at a snail’s pace or in a lightning flash. As systemic or relationally attuned people, we are well-placed to capture our observations and use writing as a similar form of flux in shaping and reshaping our ideas and noticings for ourselves and others to learn from.

As many writings from this Writing Project as possible will be published in a special issue of Poetry for Now! by Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice.

GUIDELINES

Writings must address something about relational changes and their unfolding consequences across human and non-human systems.

Writings must be entirely your own original work and not previously published elsewhere including on websites. Co-authorship is permitted.

Writings should be submitted only to this Murmurations journal Poetry For Now! writing project and not submitted elsewhere.

Writings must be in English with British English spelling please.

For an international readership, please explain any local political and healthcare etc. contexts and write all acronyms and abbreviations in full throughout.

All professional terms and jargon must be understandable to a wider audience.

Our editorial standards respect the diversity and dignity of our audience. Writings are only accepted which demonstrate respect for others, which do not identify real people in ways which compromise their privacy or wellbeing, or the quality standards or security of Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice.

No commercial or sponsored posts will be considered (i.e., any post intended to sell something or for which you are compensated).

Any copyright or intellectual property rights infringements will result in exclusion of the submission.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Submission is by email to editors @murmurations.cloud with POETRY FOR NOW! in the subject line.

Please send your writings as separate Word documents.

Rolling submissions until the Poetry For Now! project ends and archived.

By sending us your writing, you are agreeing to the publication of the writing in Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice and on the systemicflux.com website.

This writing project is sponsored by Murmurations: Journal of Transformative Systemic Practice. Murmurations is a free open-access peer-reviewed journal online at www.murmurations.cloud

The drawing of murmurations on the Murmurations journal and Pandemic as Systemic Flux websites are by one of our Deputy Editors, Dr Liz Day.

Watch this space: www.systemicflux.com