Open Write: February Poems

Celebrate Song

Normally, I try to have fun with the five days of poetry prompts with Open Write over at Ethical ELA but this week … somehow, I went serious on a few poems. That’s not a bad thing but I reached deep into the emotional well for two of the days and I wondered about the sharing of the words in other spaces.

But then I realized, the Open Write community of teacher/poets is warm, loving and giving, and I felt like it was a good place to share some of those ideas, even if I obscured much of the details beneath the blanket of verse (as poets do).

Peace (finding it),
Kevin

Song: Constellations (Moments Left Behind)

I’ve been trying to get myself into a regular routine again of writing songs, and taking any kernel of something to the next steps, of demo recording and maybe making a video to go with it. This one — Constellations (Moments Left Behind) — might still need some work but I like the way I am trying to use constellation stories as a way to frame our own experiences. I think it sort of works.

Peace (and sound),
Kevin

Blogging and Writing: A Stream A Collage An Unfolding

BlogsTyler Weaver, in his newsletter, wrote this passage about blogs (such as this one you are reading) in a way that I thought captured my own sense of why I continue to come to this space, writing and sharing and thinking out loud.

“… blogs work best as a crossroads between a stream and a collage made human by the collision of processings and ruminations through time, simultaneously representative of an individual, fleeting moment and the totality of those moments in a perpetual unfolding … ” – Tyler Weaver

Tyler’s newsletter — MacroParenthicals — is a quirky dive into comics, music, media, writing and other creative strands that he pulls on and looks at with a distinct voice.

Tyler’s piece had me thinking (yet again) of this blogging space, and how my view of it has changed over time. It used to be more of a space that I imagined as “outward” facing — sharing with other bloggers, and being connected into larger blogging networks — but now I see it more as a reflective space, something more “inward” where I am curating my writing and thinking. My audience may be smaller (I may be my only audience) but I still keep the door open for others (you, perhaps?) to peek in and see what I’m up to.

Peace (in the unfolding),
Kevin

PS — and then later, I found this piece by James Shelley — What’s The Fun In Writing On The Internet Anymore? —  that has an ancillary point about the act of writing on an Internet full of AI bots and algorithms:

Write here because ideas matter, not authorship. Write here because the more robots, pirates, and single-minded trolls swallow up cyberspace, the more we need independent writing in order to think new thoughts in the future — even if your words are getting dished up and plated by an algorithm.

Those who write — those who add ideas instead of paraphrasing and regurgitating them — inform the lexicology and mental corpus of how we think in the future. Indeed, the point isn’t “being an author,” but contributing one’s perspective, even if one’s personal identity is silenced, erased, and anonymized along the way.

– James Shelley

Word Art Poem: Balloon (and bonus Blackout Poem, too)

Balloon Poem

This visual poem was sparked by a one word prompt off Mastodon: balloon. And it seemed perfect to be shaped in the form of a balloon.

She wondered
if the air of the poem,
if spoken in verse,
could fill the balloon –

if her words,
whispered, were
the size of a quiet
room

Peace (fill it up),
Kevin

PS — not longer after I made the balloon poem, the Daily Create prompt was about favorite kinds of poems, so I did a blackout poem with the prompt instructions.

Poem: Gone Country

I was listening to two new tracks by Beyonce from her upcoming country-infused album and I couldn’t help but wonder at the cultural battles that will likely emerge from the country music scene as a result, and that sparked this poem.

Words of the poem are here.

Peace (while listening),
Kevin

Poem (Response): Words For Compost

Poems For Compost

My friend, Terry, wrote a poem entitled “Ideas Trapped By Words” and I borrowed a line and took it for a walk, into a new poem (as a sort of response).

His poem — about shredding paper and ideas as the mind wrestles with words — brought up similar for me something that comes from the act of writing a poem every  single morning (which is what I do): there are ruts that one gets into with common topics, with form or formlessness, with dead ends that bring it all to a halt. Some days, I post something in the form of what someone might generously call “poetry” that belongs more naturally in the compost bin (but those are the poems, too, that sit in my mind for hours until I tighten them up with revision — so maybe my head is the compost bin?)

Anyway, here is my poem:

I wish more of my words
could become compost –

for when I’m fed up
with nothing to say
but still, in ink
and idea, saying it –

Just imagine the weeds
on the lawn, droopy at dawn
but strengthening by day,
as if discarded verse

took something worse,
and transformed it into
something unrecognizably
beautiful

Peace (and dirt),
Kevin

Daily Create: Gratitude Zine

Gratitude Zine

Today’s prompt for the DS106 Daily Create, by Sarah, is to use Austin Kleon’s idea for making a Gratitude Zine through art. I created a front page of a zine, and posted it via Mastodon, where I share my Daily Create responses every morning, but I am grateful, too, if you have arrived here at this blog for a few moments (via RSS, most likely) at this post. Thank you!

Peace (and props to you),
Kevin