“I’m being deliberately harsh here for a reason. If we’re going to do great work, it means that some people aren’t going to like it. And if the people who don’t like it don’t have an impact on what happens to the work after it’s complete, the only recourse of someone doing great work is to ignore their opinion.”
—Seth Godin
April 2012
23 posts
Into Sleep
The doves have come.
It is morning, or
something like morning.
They are nesting within
the trees, diving
into the underbrush.
They do not want to
be seen. They do not
want to be heard. They
cover themselves
with wings, fall
into sleep.
“Secrets can take many forms - they can be shocking, or silly, or soulful.”
—Frank Warren
“Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”
—Kurt Vonnegut
What Now
What now? You’ve gone
and refuse to speak with me.
I want and don’t want
to hear your voice.
I want and don’t want
to see you.
I can’t remember
the sound of your laugh.
I’m beginning to forget
the sound of your voice.
What now?
What now?
Disclaimer: This is not a great poem (It might not even be a good one.), but it’s all I’ve got this week.
“Being bored is a kind of diagnostic for the gap between what you might be interested in and your current environment.”
—Clay Shirky (Hat tip to Merlin Mann)
“Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.”
—David Ogilvy
Take Up a Stone
Take up a stone.
Don’t be picky.
Choose one,
any one.
Roll it
in your palm.
Put it
in your pocket.
Pull it
from your pocket.
Study it.
Rub its smooth
surface, its edges
with your thumb.
Forget it. Forget
significance, weight.
Throw it
away. Take up
another stone.
5 Online Projects for National Poetry Month →
thenextweb.com
Without further ado, some ideas and inspiration for National Poetry Month 2012.
“Someday perhaps I will go around carrying only a book, a change of clothes, a pen, a water bottle, a folding umbrella, and a little capsule that turns into my livelihood when opened. Rollable hi-res screen and keyboard, tiny computer the size of a cell phone or smaller but as light as a pen, with high-speed satellite connectivity anywhere on the globe. In this world, my sleeping bag, pad and windproof hammock weigh only a pound put together. For half of the year I travel the world, alone and with companions, with a small bag slung over my shoulder like Kwai Chang Caine. We sleep outdoors, travel on trains, and a few days of the week sit some place cozy and create beautiful software or solve interesting problems that improve the world.”
—Max Shron answers the question “What would be your dream setup?” (via viafrank)
Breath
Breath: pause,
caesura, a break,
the skip of a beat,
your beat, the one
I used to know.
Another breath:
trying to breathe
alone, the stench
of the alley, or
the homeless man
drifting closer,
Hey, pretty girl,
alone again, maybe,
maybe not -
a jab
to the ribs,
solar plexus,
a knife slid
in, then out,
not leaving
a mark, only
a small pucker,
a little blood.
Or, breathlessness:
almost seeing
your slim form,
its shadow, hearing
the familiar laugh
and wondering -
breathe, breath
broken, caesura,
a long pause,
another beat.
“Failure to create some form of predictability will result in chaos. Failure to create some sort of well-maintained Barbaric chaos inside the company guarantees that a fast-moving, ambitious, risk-taking and ruthless someone else - someone outside the company will invade, because they know what you forgot: hacking is important.”
—Michael Lopp (via smarterthaniam)
