dogtrax

Sit still, please, so we might borrow your dreams

the snap of a button on a tintype camera completes the scene

In this space, as past and present collide in memory,

the ferrotypist morphs metal into magic; a moment on a screen

for NWP Write Across America: Baltimore inspired by the work of Elena Volkova https://youtu.be/5tkhkrIDBTE?si=5FNiDINDpAwtSNBV&t=199

In The Words of Ernest Shaw Jr.

There is no word for art: it's all one vibe, one rhythm, one energy surrounded by art

and what I do – I stand on the shoulders of others who have done it before me

to create work that connects with people

to communicate that which is very difficult to communicate

that's the work

for NWP Write Across America: Baltimore remix using transcript of visual artist Ernest Shaw Jr https://www.pbs.org/video/the-dig-ernest-shaw-jgi2iy/

In the moment of the middle of each falling rain drop

time stops

but we continue on

With beads bursting forth, connecting colors, strung strong to create a scene of those from the edges - it's what artists make, connecting colors bursting forth, with beads

for Write Across America: Baltimore inspired by the bead work of Joyce J. Scott https://vimeo.com/184008126

Verging on collapse, barren tree branches muster strength against this snow

Atop the mountain, a single tree grips the rock with roots, tightening

for Daily Haiku

Some branches bear weight of night storms that come along, while others, collapse

for Algot

A tale like this, scrolled and cranked by hand across the screen,

requires attention

— not to mention what must go on behind the scenes —

it's always moving forward, slowly, boldly, bringing us the story in shadowed circular motion

—inspired by “Francis Whitmore's Wife” – a Crankie Shadow Puppet Show by Katherine Fahey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYrNBbVqQGE

as part of #writeacrossamerica

The middle door, made of steel, glitters with ice crystals. The lock, too, is encrusted in frost. This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

— from Thunder & Lightning (Weather Past, Present, Future) by Lauren Redniss (page 18)

First Seed Stirs

Four-ply foil bags, packed tight as rain, inside boxes, this vault contains the sealed-up seeds

of pig-weed, goose-grass, chickpea, Job's Tears, radish, yellow-rocket, mahogany, lentil, cumin, clover, flax, chicory, pear, watermelon, basil, mint, blackberry, corn -

plus thousands more sleep down there, plucked from dirt of this Earth, all stored at zero degrees, five hundred feet in sandstone for a future turned by climate, or war, or something more

These lands need rebirth; the first seed, planted, stirs

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH0IRaAiy1Y

There is an unseen path, woven by weed and grass -

a secret space by which all wild animals must pass

near us, hidden, as we laze beneath the elder trees,

using books as maps to where the journey leads,

a place, based in belief

for MastoPrompt