Random Access Poetry: Day Seventeen


October Morning Light flickr photo by Pavel P. (P. (this is old account that I no longer shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

Random Access Poetry: Day Seventeen

When they talk of those
walking on water, of
the miracle of wonder

perhaps this is what they mean

From here, anything seems
possible, even the way
we might slip across the
surface tension

and dance with the trees

I wait, while you pull
on your boots, our socks
still wet from yesterday’s

excursion into photography

Peace (through a lens, brightly),
Kevin

PS — this image was discovered through the Flickr Stampr Creative Commons search engine — I used the word “periphery” to find an image because it came up in another poem the other day and I like the idea of edges.

CLMOOC: Where Rings and Planets May Yet Connect Us

CLMOOC Web Ring comic

Greg has been building out a few fun, helpful video tutorials on our move in CLMOOC to use Web Rings and RSS Planets to gather the work and writing and sharing and connection of people together after the plug got pulled on G+ space. Sheri wrote a useful post that gives more specific details on joining these ventures.

The CLMOOC Web Ring, still under construction with a few hiccups along the way (including this platform of Edublogs not quite in synch with how Web Rings work), is designed to provide paths to different CLMOOC blogging sites, so that you can move in circular patterns through the ring of writers. I still don’t have a full handle on Web Rings, yet, but I’m getting there, and Greg created this video tutorial on how to connect your space to the ring.

Greg also earlier had created this video of the “history” of Web Rings and the entry of CLMOOC into the system.

The CLMOOC RSS Planet, meanwhile, is a gathering of RSS feeds from bloggers who have been part of the CLMOOC experience over the years. Greg (with generous help from Sarah) set up a master feed that pulls in RSS into one place — one “planet” where we all orbit as constellations.

Again, Greg created an amusing video overview. The robots are here.

You can see both the CLMOOC Web Ring and the RSS Planet at the site that Greg has set up. Here’s another example of CLMOOC venturing into unknown terrain, under the ethos of making connections with each other and hopefully, expanding out the Affinity Space in different ways. And all with Greg’s continued guidance and support and, well, cheerleading, around the IndieWeb movement and Domain of One’s Own concept of DS106 and other connected networked spaces (a shift which I might need to start re-thinking myself this year, too).

Peace (in stars and circles),
Kevin

Random Access Poetry: Day Sixteen


Image from page 253 of “Meissonier, his life and his art” (1897) flickr photo by Internet Archive Book Images shared with no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)

Random Access Poetry: Day Sixteen

If you saw what I saw
when I see what you see,

you’ll share this belief:

I can’t draw what you see
nor can you draw, for me

Peace (in different visions),
Kevin

PS — this image was discovered through the Internet Archive Book Image project. I follow a bot on Mastodon that shares random pics from the collection.

Random Access Poetry: Day Fifteen

Photo CC BY

Random Access Poetry: Day Fifteen

Obscured light,
tinted green
by time’s
forward march –

Somewhere,
a sign waits,
a stationary signal
of some sort
left by someone

and the only question
is whether we follow
the path forward

or forge our own

Peace (in the path),
Kevin

PS — this was inspired by the daily Flickr Promptr site created by John Johnston — come write you own poem!

Random Access Poetry: Day Fourteen


Image from page 87 of “Familiar trees” (1906) flickr photo by Internet Archive Book Images shared with no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)

Random Access Poetry: Day Fourteen

Just try to draw
a line through
time and see how
it goes

Nothing linear
here, just a slow
burn towards
the soil

with evidence of
an unsteady hand
and little more
to guide you

except the faith we feel
that all around us,
this ragged world
always grows

Peace (in the trees),
Kevin

PS – I used a bot account on Mastodon — Public Domain Book Images —  which shares out images from the Internet Archive Book on Flickr.

SmallStories: Pedagogy of the Small

My friends Laura and Kate, along with Geoff and Tanya remotely, presented about the idea of Small Stories and the Pedagogy of Small at the OER19 Conference.

I’ve been part of the SmallStories gathering over at Mastodon for some time (often with CLMOOC friends), first drawn there by Tanya and Kate and others, and now find myself a regular SmallStories writer. SmallStories is the idea of small moments, shared in the open. They are typically short bursts of writing, often hinting at something larger. Sort of like Slice of Life, if you are a Slicer with Two Writing Teachers.

Laura and Kate: SmallStories

I’m enjoying watching Laura share the ideas of the writing (including work that Geoff has done with the Young Writers Project in Vermont) at a conference considering the possibilities of open networking. She begins by contrasting the push towards bigger, bigger, bigger networking spaces with small corners of writing, sharing, connecting like the #smallstories hashtag. (oops, then the sound goes out when she moves to chat about Mastodon. Read her lips!)

Laura and Kate: SmallStories

Kate then explores the difference between flash fiction (short creative fiction) and small stories (mostly non-fiction of a single event).

“This little thing happened, how weird was that?” is how Kate explains how our days, all of us, are filled with small stories. “Noticing is something you need to learn to do.”

It’s in that noticing that we bring forth the story, however.

Kate defines small stories as:

  • being composed of the details we notice
  • having something to teach us about ourselves or the world
  • notice our values in action, made visible

Thanks to my friends for gathering this together and sharing it out.

Peace (in the open),
Kevin

Random Access Poetry: Day Thirteen

Photo by: Miradortigre : under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license https://flic.kr/p/24vyVUh
Photo by Jocelyn777 : under a Creative Commons (BY) license https://flic.kr/p/K35xi6

Random Access Poetry: Day Thirteen

Everything here
seems so far away
from there

as if time and
tides have kept us
drifting

We dip our
way into the
watercolors

Our skin now
painted with layers
of flotsam

and jetsam, of
algae and rust,
of trust

Peace (in reflections),
Kevin

PS — this poem inspired by the random Flickr Blendr tool shared by John Johnston

Random Access Poetry: Day Twelve

Photo CC BY-NC-SA

Random Access Poetry: Day Twelve

You don’t remember me –
the way I was liquid in the crowd
hugging the shore with your family
and friends, nor how I pilfered
one of the ribbons off the ship
when no one was looking, sticking
it deep inside my jacket pocket
with clenched fingers, nor how, later,
I walked home a little lighter,
as if I were now part of something
rather than just another nothing

Peace (at turbulent seas),
Kevin

PS – this poem was inspired by John Johnston’s Flickr Promptr and you can write your own, too. Plus: there’s a new photo every day.

Random Access Poetry: Day Eleven


[Portrait of Conte Candoli, 1947 or 1948] (LOC) flickr photo by The Library of Congress shared with no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)

Random Access Poetry: Day Eleven

There’s no forgetting
the night when the
force of the riff
shattered the world:

the window panes danced
in wonder, as whiskey
glasses shook and shivered,
moaning with pressure –

all to get us
on the floor,
to dance –

Your horn blared
the clarion call of
hook and melody
we still hear across the years

in worn-out shoes
and the mirror
of midnight blues

Peace (sounds like),
Kevin

PS — I did a search for “Jazz” in the Library of Congress archives collection for this unexpected image