March Musings #17: Collaboration Counts Poetry Slice

I am not sure how it all began but I do remember it was one of the nights this week when the Night Owl PLN got together on Twitter. I decided to switch up the conversation. One of our group members sent me an absolutely, beautiful landscape photograph she took while driving in Pennsylvania. The photo just begged for a poem to accompany the image and I was ready to design my global winter gallery of artistic designs, Winter Wonderland. The stillness, the serenity, the lightly tread upon road all called out for more so I proposed a collaborative poem. 

I set up a Google Doc and invited those interested to join the writing fun activity, afterall it was different way of having a conversation. Oops! Did I say fun? I think I moved a few of my Twitter friends out of their comfort zone as I placed some ideas on the Google doc. When I realized that ideas coming in were evolving into a poem in verse I thought, "But isn't that what I said was out of my comfort zone? "

"When a group of colleagues step out of their comfort zone to collaborate and create, they are the risk takers that their students need to stand before them."
-Carol Varsalona

And so we began the process of adding ideas, making comments, and having others take a peek at our collaborative poem based on Spiri's photo. We were going public, putting ourselves out there for critiquing. We were vulnerable and yet there was pleasure in the creation process. (You can take a look at our Google Doc here.) 

I worked over the course of several days to edit, revise, and word weave (the process I designed to move words in and out, creating a designed effect during the revision process). Then, I moved from Google Docs to Buncee to create a digital poem. The end product is below but you can see a larger version at my Buncee dashboard. 

This image poem will be added to my Twitter repository, #WinterWonderland18, as I prepare to organize and design my winter gallery. Stay tuned for more on when the gallery will be unveiled. 

I thank the following members of my Night Owl PLN who chose to step out of their comfort zone and write alongside me:

Melissa Chouinard-Jahant

Steve Kelley

Faige Meller

Chris Quinn

Valerie Tilton

and to Spiri Howard for her fine photography skills

Collaboration Counts!
I celebrate collaboration today.

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."
-Vince Lombardi

Ruth Ayres has a wonderful story of friendship and the power of one word

at Celebrate This Week.

 

Day 17 of Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge

Poetry-Gentle Wonderings

"Poetry is the gentle wonderings of a world calling me to unravel its beauty in words." 

 

While most people do not think of residual snow patches as being visually appealing, I find beauty in their patterns. A poem rose from within the digitized design.

When art guides my thoughts, a path emergences. 

Thanks goes out to Laura Shovan for guiding the way to ekphrastic poetry writing based on a daily work of art. The writing community she created has grown this year. There are always surprises when being stimulated by prompts. For instance, I spent this week thinking about the warm-up exercise from the following artwork. I discarded several drafts and finally tonight I am ready to post my wonderings. My one word, hope, seems to find a way to sneak into my thoughts each day. 

The combination of art, technology, and language are igniters of wonder for me. As a trio, they spark my imagination and let poetry evolve as gentle wonderings. 

Today is Poetry Friday and before the clock strikes midnight, I am ready to send these poems into the universe. My writing colleague, Donna Smith is the host of Poetry Friday at Mainely Maine. She is doing double duty this week because yesterday she was hosting Spiritual Journey first Thursday of which I participate monthly. 

I am excited that additional poetry postcards have been arriving and that I sent out mine. Since I had implant surgery today, I will thank the poets who sent me poetry from the ekphrastic poetry in another post. 

I hope you have a chance to capture the gentle wonderings of winter for my winter gallery, Winter Wonderland. 

Invitation to Winter Wonderland Gallery

Winter calls us to snuggle inside and find peace in the stillness-

to listen soulfully to the sounds of nature-

to wonder deeply about life,
as the warmth of white blankets cover the earth
or the glare of the sun showers land.
❅❅❅

Whether you live in warm climates or snow-covered lands, winter is the time to tuck yourself in, uncover the layers of life, and hope for a year of blessings. 

JanYOUary is your time to notice, wonder, and capture

the beauty of stilled wonders. 

❅❅❅

I invite you to discover nature's artistry this January and February in your locales where earth can be covered in winter white blankets or warmed by the sun's brilliance.  

❅❅❅

Calling ALL adults, students, classes to:

capture YOUR perspective of the winter season in any of these  mediums: photographs, videos, digital slide shows, songs musical compositions, artistic renderings, collages, illustrations, digital inspirations, image poems, inspirational quotes, sketches, or hand-draw pictures. Share your inspirations globally.

All offerings must:

-Have proper credit for work displayed with the name of the author and location of the image embedded at the bottom of the image.

-Be sent in a thumbnail (jpeg or png) format, 450 pixels or no larger than a 3 by 5 image to my gmail account (cvarsalona at dot com) with the subject line Winter Wonderland Gallery.

-Be placed in the repository on Twitter under the hashtag #WinterWonderland18.

-Be submitted by February 28, 2018.

Examples of past winter galleries can be accessed at:

Winter Wanderings, Winter Whisperings, Winter Wonder

"Winter is a season of recovery and preparation."

-Paul Theroux

↓

Let's spread joy and inspiration this winter season through this gallery of artistic expressions.