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patterns of ink

How fruitless to be ever thinking yet never embrace a thought... to have the power to believe and believe it's all for naught. I, too, have reckoned time and truth (content to wonder if not think) in metaphors and meaning and endless patterns of ink. Perhaps a few may find their way to the world where others live, sharing not just thoughts I've gathered but those I wish to give. Tom Kapanka

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Location: Lake Michigan Shoreline, Midwest, United States

By Grace, I'm a follower of Christ. By day, I'm a recently retired school administrator; by night (and always), I'm a husband and father (and now a grandfather); and by week's end, I sometimes find myself writing or reading in this space. Feel free to join in the dialogue.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Gallery

I stepped in a gallery
(just opened to all
not many years ago)
and followed soft-lit walls
of painted answers
down endless halls
of questions no one asked
but me
(or so I thought ‘til then).
Searching for
a single piece of straw
among the stacks of needles there,
strolling, scrolling past the posts
and columns
framed to fix the eye
or gain a glance,
I stopped perchance amazed
to gaze upon our words,
the notes we’d passed
some time ago
like kids on scraps at school,
now opened up, pressed out
and plastered to the wall
for all to see.
Who knew
that such a sight was art
to anyone but me?
© Copyright 2007, TK, Patterns of Ink

Blame it on the cold medicine I’ve been taking for three days, but these random lines made sense to me early this morning when I scribbled them down. Here's a hint: the gallery was not the Guggenheim but GOOGLEheim, and the hallway that I happened on last night was here which led to here.
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At the risk of sounding "internet illiterate," I'll confess that I did not know until yesterday that things we little "unknown" bloggers write are displayed in Google searches. Out of curiosity I typed this "Duncan Phyfe" title and was surprised to see these chapters as well as your comments listed there. They're not displayed in full on a wall--just introduced and "linked" somehow--but opening them there felt strangely public compared to sitting at my quiet little blog to write or read.
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Like the photo above, Google is an amazing "gallery" with posts and columns (of the written sort, the kind we "scroll" rather than stroll through). The endless compilation is mind-boggling (and a bit unnerving), but it serves as a reminder that the columns of minutia we post may be hung for all in the gallery to see. Anyway, that's what triggered these lines.
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You'll notice that a similar search prompted me to add an update to the end of Chapter 9-b. I Googled "Hamburger Gravy" and got 714,000 references--including one called hamburgergravy.com, a site you can buy for $500. Who knew we were discussing such a hot topic?

8 Comments:

Blogger Nancy said...

Now that is interesting... you are just full of surprises! I guess everyone may have known but not me-I can't wait to go and google some of my stuff... scary.

I just caught up on your last chapter. My hubby loves antiques and we have a wooden ice box along with a refrigerator that has the compressor on top. So, the photos were very meaningful to me.

Now about that cold. I am so sorry and hope you feel better soon. Those kids sure do like to share those germs but I know you love the hugs so the germs are worth it... maybe!????

27/9/07 7:02 PM  
Blogger Cris said...

LOL, don't worry Tom, we won't hold it against you. :P

I hope you are feeling better soon.

27/9/07 7:55 PM  
Blogger Mrs. Geezerette said...

After I posted the article at my blog about MRSA, I had several people find my blog through a search for MRSA. Some of them went on to use the link I had provided in my article to the Readers' Digest article about MRSA. It made me feel very good to learn that I had helped people find out more about the disease.

I just did a google search for threshing machines and the Sears catalogue. Guess what! SusieQ's Place popped up and was first in line.

Your poem is very appropriate. I like it. Get well soon. I hate it when I come down with a cold.

27/9/07 8:14 PM  
Blogger .Tom Kapanka said...

Nancy,
I didn't know until I googled "Hamburger Gravy" and found my post among hundreds of recipes and websites. Sounds like SQ discovered the same thing a while back.
We like antiques, too. You'll get a kick out of this. Remember that fire my brother Dave had two weeks before the wedding? Well, all of their family pictures were stored in an antique oak ice box and they survived while the room around it was totally burned.

Cris,
Thanks, I'm feeling better today than I was on Tuesday and Wednesday. This cold/flu is going around up here.

SQ,
I remember that post of yours. We had just read the article in RD. I really didn't know Google searches included personal blogs, but I guess it makes sense since I think Google owns Blogger.
Glad the lines made sense. Next chapter is in the works.

27/9/07 9:13 PM  
Blogger the walking man said...

Tom that is why I post all of my new creative writing work on the internet blog and leave it up thirty to forty five days which is long enough for it to be in the public domain if someone wants to steal it or print it out for their own pleasure...i don't care, I just won't leave it longer than that.

Besides looking at a blank blog page always makes me feel like I need to do something, write something to fill it with so it is all a motivation for me as well.

If I hadn't twice now deleted everything I posted since November the blog would have over a thousand posts on it.

I am archiving them and that way i never have to give my blog first publication rights.

But your poetry is very good, better drink some more of that swill if you're moving into my realm (throws gauntlet down)O teller of stories.

28/9/07 5:35 PM  
Blogger .Tom Kapanka said...

Mark,
You raise an interesting point about publishing rights. Blogging presents new considerations in these matters. I have published a handful of things and self-publish much of what I write here. It is very rewarding to see one's efforts on pages that turn.

You are a poet in the truest sense and probably have more publishing savvy than I. I'm open to your advice.

As for that thrown gauntlet, you could out-write me with or without the swill (which I had to look up, thank you. It was only cold medicine! =) You know my beverage of choice is Vernors! I’m slow, you're overflowing and prolific so it would be a tortuous and hare poetry stand off--except in this case (even if we agree the lines had to be rated “G” or "PG") you would write stacks and stacks fast AND win the race.

Seriously, though, thanks for the compliment.

29/9/07 6:34 AM  
Blogger heiresschild said...

hi tom, hopefully you're all better from the cold you had when you wrote this post.

i discovered about my blog on google a couple of years ago, and it was a little eerie knowing how easy i can be found. that's why i'm careful not to mention some names (people in the public eye) when i'm writing, so when people google that name, they won't get me saying anything about them.

30/9/07 6:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great work.

10/11/08 4:23 PM  

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