Dymphny Dronyk : Stakeholder Engagement

folio : energy stories

 

 

Tell me again
about that spot on the bluff,
fifty years of family picnics,
about how you wait till
the wild strawberries are ripe.
Tell me how this was
the end of the road,
before the slash of pipeline,
the incessant roar of the compressor. 

No, really,
I’m listening.
I can hear the voices
over the mumble of the dirty river.
Stories are the best part of my job. 

I came here armoured with
carefully crafted collateral,
facts on the impact assessment,
a briefcase full of mitigation strategies.
Today, I left that all in the truck. 

Trust me.
It happened to my land too.
I shall carry your story
back to the glass towers,
spin it into the language
of economics.
Equations that illustrate
the value of compromise.

We’ll move this wellsite.
You have my word.
An oath written in red,
whatever blood is left in my heart.

—April 2013

 

 

 

Dymphny Dronyk is a Qualified Mediator and is also a bestselling poet, editor, translator, and story doula. She is passionate about the magic of story and has woven words for money and for love for more than 30 years. She has facilitated unique writing and conflict resolution workshops across Canada. Her volume of poetry, Contrary Infatuations, was short-listed for the Pat Lowther Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. She is co-publisher and co-editor at House of Blue Skies.