This is a poem on feeling stuck and all of a sudden being free to do and think something completely different. As you can hear above in the video and read below, the poem can be on many subjects.
I wrote it just after an open discussion on higher education, universities and academic freedom. The discussion took place at a conference in 2026 in Aarhus, Denmark at PaTHES, which means Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society.
The Whisper
I was tradition, language, order Limited by mails and no money Sitting in front of my computer
Then I walked through the wall There was no door to open I just seeped through the concrete
Now I am nothing, ready to talk Maybe I will get three legs here Become an unknown creature
You stand in this new room Just a soft membrane like me There are no limits to thinking
If I whisper, you might hear me If you touch me, I might listen If we dance, we make music
My son defended his PhD Thesis just a few days ago at Department of Culture, Cognition and Computation, Aarhus University. Above you see the front page of the Thesis and here below a poem I wrote and read to him. It is of course a personal text from a proud father, but also a text about being in transition as a new researcher. In that sense a snapshot of a situation, more people than he has been in. If you are curious about the front page, just write him and ask him. Enjoy the poem.
Doctor of Philosophy
On this troubled, blue, lonely planet We need minds, that dare think far enough
You know, where the answers whisper In the back of your head, insisting on being true
The world is still a colorful playground But we need caring hands in every corner
That is where you come in, my young padawan As the new breed of scientists, the newborn researcher
The brain isolated in a dark empty space Needs art to move and poetry to make sense
Someone must show the connections Between dots and dance, culture and change
It seems to be you, that has the task Of running the machines and thoughts of the future
It seems to be you, with trembling hands Who must start a lab of love, a new yellow submarine
You jump from city to city, talking in networks Surfing our globe, your feet skating in the air
Next touchdown is ready, next challenge is close Placed in the mountains, in your open mind, go for it
It happened a long time ago, that you raced past me Telling your own stories of life and risk
But I am always close, not more than a word away If you need a walk or a talk or a look at the sky
We salute you, warrior of the unknown Enter your new title and forget about the brakes
Above you see me in the middle of something reading a poem to a good friend of mine. Below there some images from when Wes Shumar and I did perform the poem at a garden party in english. I wrote the text but Wes commented and suggested. I read the words and Wes let the guitar gently whisper. Enjoy video, images and words!
Time is a trickster
Age is a number, life is to be ready for the next challenge Feeling alive in the sun, among friends, playing once again Grandchildren and grand thoughts intertwining
A guitar whispers about the twilight between love and loss A woman enters the stage and shows herself once again Watch her hands slowly open and close ready for the next fight
You are a ballet dancer, when it comes to crossing a river It seems to be part of your tough and yet sensitive spine Earned though a lifetime of being and becoming
You leave the old map and the directions noted there The new map is ready to be drawn and done by yourself Nothing matters more than your next decision
Time is a trickster, suddenly days turn into years A house turns into a home, words turn into a language But you turn into what you always were, a strong woman
When you retire, grey of age, you recalibrate in your heart You enter the stage again, riding once more love and desire The years to come are yours to grasp and turn into passion
This is a poem on how children and technology can be framed and understood in a pedagogical setting like a kindergarten, a pre-school or a afterschool club. The essence here is to give the children and the staff the possibility to become transformers. What that might be, you can read below.
it is in English, as I was writing it at the BIN-norden conference i Stockholm in May 25. The conference was about among other things about childrens culture in a pedagogical setting. Enjoy.
And just to mention it: The second line in the poem is actually part of the first line. This software just cant show such loooong lines of text – in one line.
The transformers
You can think children as narrators, explorers, searchers & decision makers It is nothing new, it is part of everyday life in a kindergarten
Give them the possibility to experiment and find their own use For digital media, technologies and narratives
Ask fundamental questions together with the children Be a We, a group of human beings
What do we want to tell? What do we want to know more about and be able to? Who do we want to talk to and where?
And of course, who do we not want to talk to And where do we not want to be
What do we want to use this technology for? Because we can change any use together to another use Our playground is an open laboratory
We are the ones who can transform anything through play We are the ones who can leave any technology any time
We are the ones, who are the center of the world It is what we do together that matters We are the ones who travel online to meet the unknown
We are always body, community and play We can mix robots, tablets, sand and space
Images can become shaped clay that can become new play Play can become shaped clay that can become new images Just use AI, a camera and a circular, playful proces
We are an experimenting community that never finishes One must just start thinking and acting like that
There I was on the 08.05.25 standing in front of all the participants at the BIN-Norden conference in Stockholm reading this poem celebrating us as educators, researchers and practitioners in the field of children´s culture. It is in English as the conference language were in English. The drawing is mine and has to do with being global as well as Nordic. You get the poem both as a reading and in writing. Enjoy!
Our Playground
We know a lot in this vibrating everlasting space About being in deep processes with children Playing together in a modest everyday present
We are the experts in looking at and joining in At the very same time inside this phenomenon play Working and walking through a playful pedagogy
Here we are suggesting ways to become humans Using tools and materials to understand and live life Doing experiments to be a gentle part of a wounded world
Maybe we are the ones, who know the most on culture On art unfolded in processes, on digital technologies As a vivid part of the analogue and the global
At least we dare to be in the unknown and still untold Breaking boundaries and creating new expressions Making ourselves and children capable of agency
This is a community of researchers and practitioners Basing our results on action and ongoing reflection We hold our ground in the playground and talk about it
Be aware, we have just started a long journey It might be us, who can change the future of this planet Being sensitive to ourselves, to all and our connections
A toast for the Nordic approach, a toast for children A toast for Bin Norden, a conference to discuss and act A toast for our capacity to play and play again
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