Poems: Of Poets and Pianists

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Always Wandering Away

Two poems, from two one-word prompts. The first was this morning’s poem– with the word “precision” and my mind went first to “imprecise” and then to my daily poetry writing, which is admittedly a bit lazy, in that I don’t often return to revise or edit or do much to keep poems moving forward.

The second was from the other day, with the word “piano” and jazz pianist Keith Jarrett sprung to mind, particularly his vocalizations as he plays.

Silence In The Gaps

And of course, that almost requires a soundtrack:

Peace (Where Words Inspire),
Kevin

Poem: Nearly The End

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The Start and Finish Line of the
The Start and Finish Line of the “Inishowen 100” scenic Drive flickr photo by Andrew_D_Hurley shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

The one-word prompt for this morning’s poetry was “habitat” and immediately, the ideas of my students (whom I love, don’t get me wrong, but I am ready to be done with the year) as ‘invasive species’ in their temporarily adopted habitat of school sprung to mind and the poem unfolded.

Their adopted habitat
becomes their hallways
and classrooms,
lockers and lunchrooms,
playgrounds and fields

Wandering in search
of connection and friendship,
ideas and mischief,
and always, permission
to be who it is they are
becoming –

Invasive species, they are,
but always welcomed
as curiosities from the start,
taking seed like vines
inside the labyrinth
of our hearts,

only to arrive at the day
when they become un/uprooted
from the grounds
on which they have covered,
and then gone, disappeared –

Approaching summer
seems, then, like fallow fields,
but soon enough, another
crop of adolescent interlopers
suddenly, like clockwork,
reappears

Peace (and Endings),
Kevin

Poems: Of Flowers and Seeds

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Flowers Of The Valley

Two days of one-word prompts tugged in the direction of plants. The first prompt was “valley” and the second prompt was “scatter.”

Scattered Seeds

Peace (In The Rooted World),
Kevin

Poem: Leaving Footsteps

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This is a poem in response to a video that Terry did, as he was reading the book I sent him, part of a larger multi-months back/forth that he and I have been having with poems, letters, stickers and other forms of texts, remixing as we go along.

Peace (Stepping Lightly),
Kevin

 

On Juneteenth: A Focus On ‘Black Rosies’

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Rosie, the riveter as a black woman poster.

D. Elisabeth Glassco shared an entire thread on Mastodon the other day about ‘Black Rosies’ — the nearly forgotten members of the Rosie The Riveter generation of women who helped with war efforts at home during WW2. Efforts in recent years have worked to raise the profile of these woman.

Among these unsung heroes were over half a million “Black Rosies” who toiled in shipyards, factories, offices, and various other sectors to combat both foreign authoritarianism and the entrenched enemy of racism on the home front. Sadly, their immense contributions went largely unacknowledged for decades. — Glassco

But, unfortunately, many of these women worked in conditions and environments that were laced with prejudice and inequality, and for a long time, the iconic image of Rosie The Riveter was a white woman. Remembering the contributions of ‘Black Rosies’ is important as part of expanding the story narrative of our country’s wartimes history and I was intrigued by the insights and resources that Glassco shared (and I thanked her on Mastodon).

Black Rosies not only played a vital role in the war effort but also sought economic empowerment. For many Black American women, becoming a Rosie offered an escape from dead-end domestic and sharecropping jobs, aligning with the ongoing Great Migration. The war provided them with an unprecedented opportunity to earn money and shape a better future. — Glassco

Glassco’s posting caught my attention — not just for Juneteenth — but also because some of the work I have done with the Springfield Armory National Historic Museum and with Write Out (a National Writing Project/National Park Service partnership) has touched on and used the Rosie The Riveter story, with both other educators in Professional Development and with middle school students in summer programs that we have run at the Armory itself.

There is a Rosie The Riveter WW2 Home Front National Park in California. In particular, the life and story of Park Ranger Betty Reid Soskin has received a lot of attention, as it should.

I don’t particularly remember ever coming across this many resources (see list below) related to Black women who were also considered ‘Rosies’, but I wish we had had more in our Armory programming, particularly when working on historical inquiry with young people. Seeing themselves in the primary historical documents of the Springfield Armory has always been one of our program goals. We work hard to diversify the resources, to expand the stories, to make sure place and culture are central to the inquiries.

So, here’s further appreciation to D. Elisabeth Glassco for giving us more resources and ideas to think about for any future programming and for teaching me something on Juneteenth.

Peace (Making Progress),
Kevin

PS — here is Glassco’s curated list of sites and videos:

nps.gov/rori/learn/historycult

sacobserver.com/2022/07/rosie-

vimeo.com/589453279

history.com/news/black-rosie-t

washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/20

nabmw.org/the-rosies

usamm.com/a/s/blogs/news/black

inquirer.com/opinion/commentar

blackenterprise.com/a-look-ins

Art-Full Remix

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Today’s Daily Create via DS106 had us using an online art generator (Type A Painting) that turns letters and words into neat art blocks. I wrote about remix (as did Sarah) and then decided to remix my original, using art filters and video fades.

Peace (and Play),
Kevin