Four Poems: Moth, Silence, Flower, Flood

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Moth Flicker

Here are four poems from today and yesterday. The one above is from the Daily Haiku prompts off Mastodon, where today’s prompt was “moth.”

Silence Map

This second is inspired by a poem shared by Terry, along with some explanations and possibilities and the concept of a “silence map” took hold in my mind.

First Bloom of Spring

A third poem is from the morning’s prompt at DS106 Daily Create, about remixing a poem by Thomas Moore, to make it a bit more upbeat and cheerful.

Mill River Flood poem10

Finally, this last one is part of a series of poems I am writing, inspired by some local historical work on the 150th anniversary of the Mill River Flood in Western Massachusetts. I am using the text and stories of dozens of pin markers to craft small poems. (see my poems here)

Peace (in verse),
Kevin

New Songs: Living In The Static

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I wrote a collection of new songs since January and then recorded them, and released them as the album on Bandcamp: Living In The Static. It’s free to listen, if curious.

Peace (and music),
Kevin

Poems Of Remembering: Mill River Flood of 1874 – 7:30 am

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Mill River Flood1

My community is launching a series of community projects to commemorate the 150th anniversary of a horrific dam break that swept a wall of water and debris for miles, killing many people and destroying much of the communities in the flood’s wake.

A local group of historians and community members working on the events this entire month have created a fascinating StoryMap, and I am using pins on the map to inspire poems of remembering. The pins are based on time of day, and the unfolding of the disaster, hour by hour.

Mill River Flood: 7:30 am

No time even
to saddle his horse,
George Cheney fled
the mountain, quick,
galloping on a mission,
and still Onslow Spelman
wouldn’t listen,
still, he stood at the door
of his factory of buttons,
arguing the reality –
the dam was breaking
and disaster was coming,
far faster than George Cheney
ever could ride

Peace (and remembering),
Kevin

A Foolproof Guide to Daily Creating

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ds106 is Open
ds106 is Open flickr photo by cogdogblog shared into the public domain using Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

(Note: this blog post is via a daily prompt from the DS106 Daily Create, which had us using a site to generate titles for a blog post and then to write that blog post. My phrase for the blog title machine was “Daily Create” and the title it gave me: A Foolproof Guide to Daily Creating.)

The thing to know about the DS106 Daily Create is that each day’s prompt is designed to take a little bit of time, but to generate a short burst of creativity and connected-ness into the day. Here, then, is a relatively foolproof way of engaging with the Daily Create each morning (with permission to bend and break any step, as per the Daily Create ethos).

  • Head to the DS106 Daily Create site each day. The prompts for making and creating and connecting are auto-posted early (thank to Alan and Sarah and others) and change once a day. (Wanna a random prompt? Click here)
  • Ponder the concept of the Create. It could be art. It could be sound. It could be image. It could be words. It could be video. Hard to know. You stumble into the beautifully unexpected.
  • Make art. Don’t stress about perfection. Create.
  • Share your work on your preferred social media site (maybe with the #ds106 hashtag) or not.
  • Go on with your day, knowing you have already accomplished something magical with whatever you made for the Daily Create.
  • If time, check the hashtag to see what others have done and celebrate the variations of thinking and creating. Connect.
  • Repeat the process the next day (and maybe think about submitting your own idea for the Daily Create) and then next day and the next day and the next day …

Peace (and pointers),
Kevin

Writing The Night Sky: Vela

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Constellation Vela

I am the daily host over at VerseLove for today’s prompt, which is called Writing The Night Sky, and invites you to use constellations of stars as an inspiration for a poem of space and wonder.

Come join us.

Here is mine:

Vela
SQ2 30°N – 90°S

Your sisters of Heavenly Waters
await your return for an eternity
but solar winds fill your form,
and you remain mystery

Your children are seven,
a brood of starlings telling stories
of the Argo, the cargo of which
has long since been lost into myth

Your sphere of influence
envelopes the empty silence;
the Pencil, the Gum,
the Southern Ring sings inside you

Yet still, you dance and flutter, Vela,
a translucent sail in the night,
reminding us of flight,
a sky compass of remembering

More about Vela: https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/vela-constellation/

Peace (with deep space),
Kevi