Other articles

  1. June 1st, 2017

    2017 06 03 life

    journal excerpt poetry jupyter python

    We had another biannual Jupyter team meeting this week, this time it was right nearby in Berkeley. Since I had read a poem at the last meeting, I was encouraged to keep that going and decided to make this a tradition. Here's the result, as delivered this past Friday, recorded by Fernando Pérez (thanks, Fernando!).

    June 1st, 2017

    We struggle -- with ourselves and with each other
we plan -- we code and write
the pieces and ideas t'wards what we think is right
but we may disagree -- about
the means, about the goals, about the
shoulders we should stand on --
where we should stand, what we should stretch toward
shrink from, avoid, embrace --
a sense of urgency - but this is not a race

We can't erase the past
but we have built this future present
There's much to learn, to do...

Ours not the only path, no one coerced you here
You chose this -- so did I and here we are --
still at the barricades and gaining ground
against the old closed world:
compute communication comes unshackled
    read more

  2. March 29th, 2017

    2017 04 07 life

    journal excerpt poetry 

    What's missing -- feels like there's something missing --
The capacity is there -- the job's not stressful but
I somehow fail at the ignition stage - all this
fuel just sitting around -- un-utilized potential
How do I light that fire? Set it ablaze
in a daze caught up in the haze of comfort
I need to challenge myself, raising tides lift
all boats, but they also drown 
livestock
cows, horses, and goats, seeking refuge in hills
that once covered in grass now fill up like
lifeboats. 
Doctors in white coats 
say "Keep your spirits up" -- hope floats.
    read more

  3. November 9th, 2016

    2016 11 21 life

    journal excerpt poetry avila beach jupyter python

    Two weeks ago, I went down to San Luis Obispo, California for a five day Jupyter team meeting with about twenty five others. This was the first such meeting since my return after being away for two years, and I enjoyed meeting some of the "newer" faces, as well as catching up with old friends.

    It was both a productive and an emotionally challenging week, as the project proceeds along at breakneck pace on some fronts yet continues to face growing pains which come from having to scale in the human dimension.

    On Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, we spent a good chunk of the day at a nearby beach: chatting, decompressing, and luckily I brought my journal with me and was able to capture the poem you will find below. I intended to read it at a local open mic the same evening, but by the time I got there with a handful of fellow Jovyans for support, all of the slots were taken. On Friday, the last day of our meeting, I got the opportunity to read it to most of the larger group. Here's a recording of that reading, courtesy of Matthias Bussonnier (thanks, Matthias!).

    November 9th, 2016

    The lovely thing about the ocean is
that it
is
tireless 
It never stops
incessant pendulum of salty foamy slush
Periodic and chaotic
raw, serene 
Marine grandmother clock  
crashing against both pier
and rock

Statuesque encampment of abandonment
recoiling with force
and blasting forth again
No end in sight
a train forever riding forth
and back
along a line
refined yet undefined
the spirit with
which it keeps time 
in timeless unity of moon's alignment

I. walk. forth.

Forth forward by the force
of obsolete contrition
the vision of a life forgotten
Excuses not
made real with sand, wet and compressed
beneath my heel and toes, yet reeling from
the blinding glimmer of our Sol
reflected by the glaze of distant hazy surf
upon whose shoulders foam amoebas roam

It's gone.
Tone deaf and muted by

anticipation
each coming wave
breaks up the pregnant pause
And here I am, barefoot in slacks and tie
experiencing sensations
of loss, rebirth and seldom 
kelp bulbs popping in my soul.
    read more

  4. in transit

    2016 05 26 life

    journal excerpt poetry BART 

    Standing impatient, platform teeming, almost noon
Robo voices read off final destinations
But one commuter's already at his
He reached for life's third rail

There is no why in the abyss
There's only closing credit hiss
The soundtrack's gone, he didn't miss
Reaching for life's third rail

We ride on, now, relieved and moving forward
Each our own lives roll forth, for now
But now is gone, for one among us
Who reached for life's third rail

We rock, to-fro, and reach each station
Weight shifting onto forward foot
Flesh, bone ground up in violent elation
And bloody rags, hours ago a well worn suit

I ride the escalator up and pensive
About what did and not occur today
Commuter glut, flow restricted
A crooked kink in public transport hose resolved.
    read more

  5. pedestrian musings

    2014 08 25 life

    journal excerpt poetry berkeley 

    I walk in monologue 
    through Berkeley's Hills
Feet pressing into sidewalk firmly
I eat the pensive mood 
    solitude brings
And bite into the juiciness of
    self-reflection
I write, first time in years,
    free verse impromptu
Taking few dozen steps
    between each pair of lines
I yearn, on tip-toes
    stretching high, to be expressive
A mode of being longtime
    self-denied
I'm walking home - from job
    I'll soon be leaving
To find myself believing once 
    again
That which I do defines 
    me not and feeling
That which I am is
    good. enough. a lot.
    read more

social