I appreciate the unexpected elements of the prompts for each month’s Open Write at Ethical ELA. Here are my poems from this month.
Peace (and poems),
Kevin
I appreciate the unexpected elements of the prompts for each month’s Open Write at Ethical ELA. Here are my poems from this month.
Peace (and poems),
Kevin
We went to a jazz fusion show last night — Tony Vacca and the Fusion Nomads — that just blew us away, and I woke up, still thinking of how magical it was to see this amazing group of musicians in such a small performance space.
So, I used the memory for this morning’s Open Write poem.
Peace (and sound),
Kevin
Google’s AI Labs is a place I peek into every now and then, to see what they are up to. I came across something called Infinite Wonderland and fell into the hole of explorations.
The AI site uses the text of Alice In Wonderland. After choosing an artistic style from five different options (all very different and odd, but also including the style of original book illustrator John Tenniel to play with), you open up the story of Alice and choose sentences/passages. The AI then generates new art for each sentence you have chosen, creating an original picture book image for any sentence you want through its AI image generator.
I have to admit, this use of AI for story was intriguing as an interactive reading experience, and even toggling through the five styles on a single passage, it was fun to see what the AI could create.
Here is a video of the artists at work.
Peace (rabbit!),
Kevin
The first newsletter of Write Out for 2024 (theme: Poetry For The Planet) arrived in my email bin (I am also helping with some facilitation) with an invitation to use Mary Oliver’s Can You Imagine? for inspiration to craft a poem. The place-based Write Out takes place in October.
Read the Write Out Newsletter and consider writing/sharing a poem of wonder.
Peace (while dancing in the rain),
Kevin
A recent collection of poems, edited and curated by Ada Limon, inspired me to write some of my own poems, borrowing lines to build off. The original lines all come from poems in You Are Here: Poetry In The Natural World (edited by Ada Limon)
The sky is a century with no windows
from ‘To A Blossoming Saguaro’
by Eduardo C. Corral—
lost count long ago
of how many rainstorms
arrived after you wandered
the windows left open, too,
time just dribbling in
with the wind, letting rotations
moisten the frame around which
the world might be watched,
one tear after the other year
until the canvas of sky
disappeared entirely
i’m sorry to the trees i grew up with
from ‘You Must Be Present’
by Jose Olivarez
–
I couldn’t find you now in the woods even if I tried
which sends me sad but maybe makes you glad
that this thief with a knife and a Sunday morning free
can’t add to the harm that was done to your skin,
the rough outline of a curved saxophone swallowed up
but for my dreaming, the protective sap that stuck
to the edge lip of the knife, how hard it was to wipe it off,
never closing tight ever again, like my eyes
in the remembering – the cut but not the place
where blood was drawn
make small steps.
in this wild place
there are signs of life
everywherefrom ‘Lullaby For The Grieving (at the Sipsey River)’
by Ashley M. Jones–
slow go slow
this we know
but always forgotten –
that the wild places
wild spaces have stories
to tell, poems composed
beneath roots, reverberations
of a turning Earth, cursed
to forget the role of reader:
slow go slow
this we know
I only use words like stones because we are far away
from ‘Close-Knit Flower Sack’
by Cedar Sigo
We used to search
riverbeds and
shore lines
for the flattest of stone,
the thinnest of story,
just smoothed-out words,
in order to skip across
the surface as if
what we were saying was
lighter than air,
but no longer –
now we spend time
on the odd rocks
with strange angles,
the kind that makes
a distinct sound
one rarely forgets,
before plunging under
water
the moon mistaken
for a hole in the skyfrom ‘If Fire’
Jake Skeets–
fingers
in the stars,
then,the galaxy,
a tapestry
of etchingsI’ve begun
to come
unwoven againfilling space
with words
and dreams
… the rivers
will set their stones and ribbons
at your door if only
you’ll let the world
soften you with its touching
from ‘Reasons To Live’
Ruth Awad
–
Raw sound bathes
the boy, the ripples
of river on stone,
he submerges himself,
nearly but not really,
alone, his mind, a million
miles from home
Thanks to all the poets who wrote and to Ada Limon for choosing and supporting those poems and poets.
Peace (in the natural world),
Kevin
The National Writing Project’s Write Across America project stopped in South Dakota this week, and I’ve been slowly looking over the prompts and resources. What caught my eye was the Sculpture Walk in Sioux Falls, a collection of fascinating works of art. I’ve used a few for my morning poems over the last few days. The links lead to the artwork that inspired the words for each poem.
whose fingers
clench the gift
of discoverywhose eyes
drift towards
an open skywhose streets
take in all of
the wandererswhose kindness
never seems to
pass us byinspired by “Be Kind,” by by Joe & Terry Malesky
Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk
https://sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com/sculptures/2024/be-kind/
A little too late now
to wonder whether
the wind will take
what it needs
We’ve gone to seed
Loosening our insides
to release soft strands
of whatever it is that
leads us believe
We’ve gone to seed
inspired by “Gone To Seed,” by Nathan Johansen
Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk
https://sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com/sculptures/2024/gone-to-seed/
Bending ears
inward, a cyclone
taking shape
in armature
and concretewe treat the world
as one, frozen,
spoken, poets
like us, we look
to find beauty
in the brokeninspired by “Beauty In The Broken,” by Joe & Terry Malesky
Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk
https://sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com/sculptures/2024/beauty-in-the-broken/
And …
then what?
twisted
and curved
from bottom on up
to the tippity top
with an iron tail
all bundled
in contained
exclamation
and no visible
connection,
only empty thoughts
to the right and
empty thoughts to
the left, for we fill in
the gaps with
imagination
And …
then what?
inspired by “and ..” by Paul Reimer
Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk
https://sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com/sculptures/2024/and/
Peace (and bent poems of words and material),
Kevin
How relentless:
these weeds –my knees bleed
from rough
fingerprints
of concreteand next week,
I’m bound to believe
I’ll be here againbent over like
a broken fence;
every one of my rungs
sprawling, fallingthese weeds
keep on calling and
and calling, calling,
relentlessly singing
like stones
Peace (sprouting all over),
Kevin