Wednesday, 15 October 2014

#ccourses – Theme 2: Trust


So little time – so many great things to do in #ccourses!
I am lagging behind – I am a *bad* student! BUT one thing I really loved in this theme was the chance to collaboratively produce a poem with other #ccourses participants – and loosely based on the theme of trust. We used TitanPad (https://titanpad.com/sXgaTJMniP ) – and it could definitely be something to try with students… If not a collective poem – why not a collective essay or article?


So, in lieu of *proper* homework (!!),here’s that poem:

How to Stay Connected (While Walking Through the Wires)
A Connected/Collaborative Poem – erupting from #ccourses
(You can listen to the podcast of the poem from October 2: http://vocaroo.com/i/s00WbrKqEIj6 )
(This version copied, 14th October 2014)

While 
Walking through wires
Dancing on air
Whirling through space
Pay attention to the sounds
of others alongside you
humming, mouthing, shouting...
Notice those beside you 
also walking 
through wires.
Only look at them through 
the periphery
Else...it's a long way down
from balanced.

We're all tightrope walkers here
navigating across the lines
always in motion
teetering in virtual time:
Virtuosos, all of us!

Listen, what was that? 
A whisper, a scuffling of feet
from some other, other
a-part of the world,
apart in the world,
resonating with words and links and images
and sound
Perhaps a small laugh, full of excitement,  the froth of lingering fear
Look around, reach ...
Totter, swirl on the brink of
becoming 
beyond yourself
make connections that 
spin
that
span place and time

     I am so alone
     In this icy space
     The wires unjangled
     By the current that should warm them
     
Share your fire at our hearth
please join so that we may be comforted
This cozy cottage a gathering place, 
a shelter from our loneliness.

     It is so far down
     and the wires are slick and worn
     and sometimes I think
     a spider lingers nearby...licking.
     
But don't be afraid of falling,
we are all friends here
Trust us and if you fall we will catch you
so that you may continue on your journey

Do I have to say trust me to have you
close your eyes or better still, look around;
give me your hand and walk with me
or run ahead and lead the way.
Dance your dance across the wires
so that I might find your rhythm and
create the rhyme

And even when it seems we are

alone
we are not.
These are the times our feelings are just
plain
wrong.

open 
your eyes 
and
clear your ears to think.

But where are we going?
Do we have a map?
Do we explore and make 
our own
mark
(Haec dragones sunt!)
Or -
Are we waiting for-
OH?!

Why wait?
 Do
 Act

we cannot wait for someone to prove
their trustworthiness
we cannot wait for someone to protect
our privacy

 how do u know
 whom to trust
 without ever taking risks?
 how do u know?
 Fail
 Our risks may be 
 Our safeties in disguise...
 or not.

 But before the barricades
 believe in the possibilities
 like cliches in a poem
 they are endless

Grow your knowledge of trust 
as you test the path.
It's a well worn road
Ask for directions
But don't expect everyone's using 
the same map.

It's a magic of sorts
Walking through timezones 
digging through rhizomes
riding wires like skipping stones, 
or underwater currents,
As if they weren't there,
saying good morning to
someone's goodnight, and wishing upon
the same stars from the sky.

A dimension transcending time and place.
Truly human
democratic
not making judgements
based on appearance, age, 
status, wealth - 
what do you say? 
Join us. Or don't.
Just don't do nothing. 

Extending an invitation
to write
to express
to make sense 
of the daily chatter
as well as the world's conversation
trying to streamline thoughts
playing, mixing, and remixing
words and ideas
conventional vs. unconventional
with just a few tweaks
I will have started the process

Simply trust --- that you can.
don't autumn  leaves
fall
     just
like
     that ?
     
  don't autumn leaves
  become
      part of the soil
      that recreates
the Earth? 

humus = humility
mulch = organic
Gardening!

Trust your ideas will extend the wires
weaving a tapestry of understanding not yet imagined

Time
      space
Individuality...
these things are fleeting.
Ideas alone remain,
connecting cultures and 
enriching life.  
The expresso to the latte.

This human existence
encapsulated in connected thoughts.
A prism-glimpse of neurons, synapses.

Will you think?
Contribute?
Or muted, remain lost...

Wires broken, 
rusted,
disconnected,
finding no easy signal and no outlet?

En otros idiomas
También conectados
Porque ya no hay fronteras
Para quienes estamos interesados


Hola, te oigo

#ccourses 2014

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