con§tel: an environment to support creativity through shared marginalia

Abstract

This paper examines the CON§TEL¹ prototype, a web-based service that supports collective construction and dialogue within a community. This prototype explores the poetic and the dialectic relationship between reader and author mediated by a web system. This relationship takes place in a social environment where interaction design explores different ways of empowering readers —as scholars— by enabling significant collaboration.

The scholarly community formalizes its knowledge contributions through conventional text formats, such as academic papers; this standardized mediation works as a bricks for building on the top of others as a concrete manifestation of the interconnectedness of the knowledge, both within specific or multidisciplinary domains. Shared ideas and underlying relationships between texts and authors are formalized through citation and commentary; and by these means, academic papers are inscribed in a textual corpus.

Because knowledge is primarily shaped around domains or specific subject matters, we could think of all of its formal mediations as a collective attempt for creating a shared space for fixing memory. As a social construction, it aims for integrity and consistency defining shared pathways and lexicons, common fundaments and also new lines of exploration.

With this idea, I will examine other web-based systems that afford human metadata and encourage collaborative knowledge generation. This inquiry is focused in the system’s interaction design as how users are empowered for reflecting and responding over the given, what tools are available for the user’s understanding and what feedback users get as they modify and participate in new constructive ways.

(1) CON§TEL 2004-2006, e.[ad] School of Architecture & Design, PUCV, Chile. Spencer, Sanfuentes

Introduction

Nos parece que la condición humana es poéica, vale decir que por ella el hombre vive libremente y sin cesar en la vigilia y coraje de hacer mundo²

The above statement, besides warning the reader about the nature of the upcoming text, it holds the vision by which CON§TEL was designed. We think of people as enablers of poetry³, not in the sense of promoters of lyrical poetry, but rather as enablers of invention, pushing reality towards the unknown, questioning and redefining language, building on the shoulders of others and permanently reinventing the world: this is our broad poetic principle. From this vision, human beings are understood as complex individuals that are capable of transforming reality.

Then, our challenge as designers lies in our capacities for enabling meaningful and constructive interaction, were people can participate in the creation of a shared vision. This project is focused on the social space of written language but more precisely, in how the personal act of reading —and making meaning out of texts through annotation— can be transferred to the public realm, turning this private and asymmetric relationship between the author and the reader into a social dialogue of peers, reflecting individual contributions into a coherent and living corpus. We are also interested in how shared ideas constitute spontaneous social organizations around communities of practice, how the act of reading can be turned into a conversation and how this conversation can be the germ of an argument of innovation. CON§TEL formalizes these relationships and tries to outline this dynamic cycle with a simple set of operational rules; therefore, it is an attempt of formalizing the complexity of interactions around of social text that aims to define the fundaments for collaborative marginalia as an epistemological environment for creation.

(2) “It seems to us that the human condition is poetic, that is to say that for it man lives freely and without end in the vigil and courage of making a world” Alberto Cruz, e.[ad] School of Architecture & Design, Chile.

(3) The word poetic is rooted in the Greek poiesis, which means turning something from not being, into being.

The CON§TEL environment

CON§TEL is a web-based platform using three integrated components: a text editor, a set of annotation tools and a typographic map that functions as visual orienting reference for the overall interaction. Initially, this platform was meant to serve our own scholar community, in the e.[ad] School of Architecture and Design. This school is founded upon a particular vision that ties craftsmanship with poetry seeking to define our identity as americans (understanting America as the American continent and not as a single country). This vision holds the community together with a consistent uniqueness and provides a solid ground for dialogue. This vision is manifested and formalized in a collection of texts —the fundamentals— that have been written by the community members during these last fifty years. CON§TEL considers people as creative transforming agents, where the initial inquiry in the reading process is interpreted as a constructionist understanding of the narrative structures in the given textual universe. The reader always transforms what he reads by his mere understanding and reflecting. Interaction that affords formalizing these kinds of responses in a social environment would create a new manner of dialogue, mediated by the openness of knowledge.

All annotations and marginalia that were earlier performed over these texts as a form of individual study, where now meant to participate of a common digital environment. The hypothesis behind this initiative was the belief that this new kind of social annotation would produce a representative and coherent figure that could reflect the current zeitgeist of the community in relation to the original founding vision. In this sense, CON§TEL is built over a paradox: how can people be contemplative witnesses of their own simultaneously performed action? This question addresses an identity issue; the user will find himself in relationships with others mediated by the textual corpus —over which he has a new power— reinforcing the image of a communal body. This paradoxical situation is also made possible because of the internal circularity of the annotation act; the system will provide immediate feedback to the annotator in a way the their contribution is displayed in relationship with the existing corpus.

A Space for Languaging

ahora está el lugar para poetrí­as ni hipnotizantes ni
consoladores
poetrí­as que transforman cada momento al tacto
en nuevos momentos de nuevas poetrí­as⁴

What is peculiar to us human beings is that we exist as such in language, the living operation space of all our interactions. We exist in the flow of living together in the recursive coordinations of behaviors that language holds inside as meaning. Language coordinates all consensual behaviors in all our specific and different kinds of human activities, concrete or abstract, manipulative or imagined, practical or theoretical; they occur as domains of consensual coordinations of doings in the different domains that arise in our living in language. So, languaging is our manner of existence as human beings⁵.

Before language, the first human beings begun to live by coordinating their behaviors through their consensual and innate sharing of emotions. This primarily layer of coordination is the foundational basis for language. So language was naturally established as a linking space/form between personal emotion and social response: in this realm conversation arises. From this standpoint, we could define Culture as all the closed network of conversations together.

Language, then frames our thinking and shapes our interactions. We need to be aware of the plastic nature of it so that we are not imprisoned but, on the contrary, liberated by the possibilities that it allows us to accomplish.

Our challenge is to be constantly pushing forward the consensual space of conventional language so that new interactions are made possible.

(4) “now is the place for poetry not hypnotizers nor / comforters / poetries which transform each moment into the tactile / in new moments of new poetries” Iommi, Godofredo. amereida, 74.

(5) Humberto Maturana, Biology of Language.

Language as Foundation

su tierra así­ transida
¿no expondrá en la carne
un ritmo
que mueva a lenguaje
porque sin lenguaje
todas las rutas hacia nuestra intimidad
aunque se adueí±en
deforman y engaí±an?⁶

Social communities exist in the sharing act of communication itself, in the ways of preserving and renewing their own memory⁷, in the ways of storing and protecting their cultural heritage —as in their particular traditions and costumes— as well as their rules and places for depositing new contributions to their knowledge. But maybe the most distinctive attribute of communities would be the ability for inventing new and particular lexicons⁸.

Language offers its plastic power for inventing new words, new common places, new definitions and ideas embodied in new expressions. Some of these could be mere jargon or technical minutia, but others could be real verbal necessities fulfilling the need for new vocabularies in the community’s ever-growing lexicon. These new words inaugurate new vertices to be explored; they expand knowledge pushing it into new frontiers.

In this case, CON§TEL had to define the initial set of conditions in terms of a collection of classic readings or —fundamental stones for the memory palace— for a given community⁹. This set of readings is relatively small in number but, given the nature and complexity of them, they hold original statements and principles from where newer knowledge can be built from, or be in reference with: new words are inserted in this constellation of texts as new stars that draw new figures with the older drawing.

When we talk today about academic communities, the attention towards the present of their knowledge gravitates much more than any other concern¹⁰. The idea of having a centralized space for this purpose could appear as an answer to this —necessity of the latest—. Every contribution is made standing over the shoulders of others; everyone is concerned of not being redundant with something already mentioned. This memory palace¹¹ could melt the differences between foundation and innovation, between production and reception, between the teacher and the student, between the author and the reader. I’m thinking in a reader that meets people within his reading, shares his own disquisitions with his community in a way that his own word —in a prior moment, intimate— now turns refulgent, and in this way he shares the founding lexis of this neo-alphabetized community. That’s why besides the intrinsic and particular textual dimensions implied in this creative reading process, we should reinvent the ways for marking, annotating, entitling and making new connections; also the way in which we could navigate within this environment —universe of words— and how the reader by means of this visualization could be placed at and in a knowledge that wants to be understood, shared and transmitted.

(6) “the earth so overcome / is there not exposed in the flesh // a rhythm / which moves to language / because without language // all roads to our intimacy / even as they are possessed // deform and deceive” Iommi, Godofredo. amereida, 45.

(7) John Dewey; much of his “Democracy and Education” is devoted to exploring the damage done by the assumption that knowledge is a commodity, and that the goal of education is to cram as much of that commodity as possible into a person’s memory. He claims that knowledge is acquired by the dynamic and transforming experience.

(8) This is tied back to our poetic principle and the human ability of naming.

(9) The community around the poetic vision of Amereida, The Open City Group and the School of Architecture and Design, PUCV, Chile.

(10) This is especially true in scientific communities, where building new knowledge is mostly over the shoulders of the older.

(11) Here, I use the term memory palace in the sense of a collective construction of interrelated knowledge that defines it’s own representational space: the space as the continent topos of all the multiple topics (content) of the particular domain. This use could lead to confusion because the term is widely used in psychology as a way to referring to a spatial pneumonic technique.

Social Networking Applications

Metadata creation on a broad level is a precondition for semantic-based information retrieval. In the Web medium metadata refers to the information that is laid on top of previous information. Today’s systems are progressively opening into the dynamics of social annotation and the general public getting more enthusiastic about their new potentials of influencing the web through their contributions.

But how could we construct new dynamic connections in contribution with others? Would we be willing to participate in a massive —and therefore, more anonymous— knowledge-sharing community?

To estimate the value of annotation or metadata the context of its creation always has to be considered. Otherwise metadata may be ambiguous, it may contradict other statements, it even may be wrong. The question is how individual metadata can be valuable for a broader audience while minimizing these problems.

Social networks could be one solution. If people with a shared understanding about a topic are brought together in a group, subjective information is more likely to be understood by other group members. The existence of a shared lexicon my open that possibility.

First of all, digital communities are very different from physical communities. Probably the emphasis for digital communities is upon the subject matter than rather a particular philosophy or methodology¹². Further more, in digital communities every social relation would be mediated by the subject matter, because every action would be pointing towards the original argument of engagement. In this way, the invention of new words would need to be much more concise and specific, tempering the voice to a much broader community, a global one.

A folksonomy¹³ is the result of personal free tagging of information or objects in digital environments for one’s own later retrieval. The tagging is done in a social environment shared and open to others. The act of tagging is a very basic annotation, done with the intention of adding a personal handler to the new information. This could be seen as consuming information as well, if we believe information is commodity, but also it could be interpreted as the act of responding with your own voice as a conversation between reader and author around a specific body of knowledge.

The value of personal tagging in digital communities is about keeping independency between

1. the person tagging;
2. the object being tagged; and
3. the tag being used on that particular object.

If you know the tagged object¹⁴ and the tag word you can find other individuals who use the same tag on that object, which may lead —with a little more investigation— to somebody who has the same interest and vocabulary as you do. That person can become your filter for items on which they use that tag. You then know an individual and a tag combination to follow.

In a further step, you could define your specific people as your special filterers, either because you knew them previously or because you trust and respect their way of annotating; they could be widely recognized experts, influential leaders or just colleagues or peers, but the central scheme is that you could define your social folksonomic radius. Tags in this second layer —meta— organizes information from a Boolean perspective of overlapping hierarchies, where each concept defines it own “radius of influence”, allowing much more organic arrangements around single concepts (as the new atoms of the system) in contrast to classic hierarchical and categorical way of classification.

(12) It seems that digital gathering is more about the whatness that about the howness of certain knowledge. This may be explained by the fact that physical communities are held together by the —practice of doing— which is primarily not-mediated meanwhile digital communities live through all sorts of mediations.

(13) A combination of the words folk (or folks) and taxonomy, the term folksonomy has been attributed to Thomas Vander. So “folksonomy” literally means “people’s classification management”. The features that would later be termed “folksonomy” appeared in del.icio.us in late 2003 and were quickly replicated in other social software. Thomas Vander Wal has stated that folksonomy is a subset of tagging and it is “tagging that works”. (edited fragment from Wikipedia)

(14) in del.icio.us (a web repository for personal bookmarking websites) it is the web page being tagged by one or more words or phrases.

Annotation as a Dialectic Interaction

The learning process is deeply related to reading, in terms of getting informed in the first place about the existent knowledge, and then becoming aware of the different connections between underlying ideas. These connections are made in the same reading process as far as the reader has acquired certain background understanding. This kind of dialogue between reader and text occurs in the intimacy of the studying act and usually takes place as marginalia, or the annotations in the margins of the books. Here, the reader responds to the author in a parallel discourse that runs in this marginal white space of the page: by this act, the reader comprehends the typographic symbols by turning himself from passive reader into an active author that finds new connections and completes unfinished relations¹⁵. This formal interaction embodies the internal process of the reader that generates a personal image or self-generated representation of the newly acquired knowledge.

Later, these personal annotations, now in the evolved shape of a model or diagram, will be presented for discussion in a larger group for seeking approval, validation, and as a way of contributing with a personal approach enriching the collective process of understanding.

Discreet units of meaning —concepts, headings or loose ideas— distinguished through annotation and arranged in personal diagrams act as interchangeable units within the group discussion. New boundary objects will be created from the merging of individual diagrams in a way the group is properly represented.

If we understand the dynamics of these discreet semantic units as a result of human interaction —through dialogue and conversation— we would be surprised to recognize unique characteristics. These kind of semantic units behave as autonomous entities, even though they depend on a medium for their concrete existence and material interchange (spoken words, the wall, a whiteboard or the Web); all the phenomena related to them depend on the way their autonomy is realized. Also, their autonomy is the result of their organization as systems in continuous self-production: ideas lead to new ideas, knowledge flourished from previous knowledge, the publication of a paper will lead to more papers, etc.

The problem here is that these discreet units don’t mean the same thing to all the participants of the discussion; their significance is not supported by the same emotions or previous experiences. How could me step beyond mere labels and turn them into something unique and shared in the community?

Conversation functions here as a circular process of recursive iterations, gathering the multivocal units and fostering them in fixed representations —fixed by the medium and producing a boundary object— that initially work as crossroads for multiple interpretations but, through conversation, they start to become consensual references for collective orientation.

Thinking beyond tagging —as the empty label— demands a process, the dynamic act of conversation and through several iterations.

The major structural challenge would be making visible and legible all prior dispersed personal relationships between these semantic units. The map should be a consistent configuration that works as a central and truthful reference of the community’s present. Interaction design should be focused the subtle process of this reader —that without noticing— is turned into an author and witnesses how his small contribution slightly modifies the map. The map should place his contribution and validate him amongst his peers. In the same way, the system works for double purpose: for the internal community that builds from the inside and the external observers that would easily recognize in this configuration the main characteristics and hierarchies within the community.

Nevertheless, this cartographic-textual array implies certain conditions, like the declaration of a central theme, that is to say, the definition of a monolithic universe that traces its own —frontiers of concern— shaped by the own community of practice. I guess it would be inappropriate to try to arouse encyclopedic knowledge within this kind of organization: purity of ideas would blur away because of the scattering levels of meanings¹⁶. Maybe relying on the auto organization capacity of the initial architecture would demand in a future phase the figure of an administrator or a palace custodian to keep semantic principles loyal to the original statements of the community.

The visual representation of this knowledge becomes of crucial importance; the spatial dimensions can provide us with the simultaneousness of visual narratives. But this mapping is not the result of a single author, nor the schematic view built from a single point of view but the rendering of an algorithm that strives to reflect truthfully the current state of the dialogue. This image works as a metacognitive tool that presents the actual state of the system, which is vital for providing with valuable contributions. Obviously, the difficulty here strives in designing the adequate point of view that offers the spectator enough distance to access the overall consistency of the interconnected whole. This is the invention of the space of action.

(15) In simple words is thinking about thinking; metacognition refers to higher order thinking involving active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. It’s the final step in the learning process; it’s the moment where the student is aware of reading-writing strategies and able of continuing the learning process by him, because he has already produced a personal image of the whole.

(16) Maybe CON§TEL needs to remain pure in the definition of its central subject matter, encyclopedic knowledge would introduce noise as lateral semantic values were the need of further context could destroy our initial semantic units, that is, our smallest chunks.

System description

El acto engendra la forma; como el trazo que, al ser puesto a la luz, orienta la normal indiferencia de las direcciones¹⁷

(17) “The act engenders the form; like a pen stroke which, put to the light, orients the normal indifference of the directions”

Following the logic of game design, CON§TEL was modeled to operate over a specific field, with a given set of rules, specifying some constraints, providing the user with fruition and allowing the unexpected as the result of collective interaction. This space for marginalia follows the annotating traditions of the scholastic medieval monks, embodied in the three main labors of the scriptorium: the annotator, emendator and illuminator.

Twelfth century scholarship developed a highly sophisticated visual form in coherent page design, particularly in glossed bibles. Glosses promoted orderly access to complex information and provided tools for medieval scholars to organize, annotate, and cross-reference between different kinds (both textual and pictorial) of complex information working alone or in concert with others. They permitted different users to contribute new information over many years while keeping track of contributors. This was accomplished by the establishment of visual structures for organizing and arranging text and comments according to their informational roles in a visually elegant and comprehensible manner.

This environment, far from being a nostalgic representation of monastic behaviors, tries to setup the basis allowing these kind of collaborative interactions between different voices and elements over the text. In that sense, the system recognizes three different actions over the text:

1. Distinguishing key passages: The reader often highlights certain passages over the text assigning them higher relevance. By this action, we define the first textual entity of the system, the section [§]. By marking a section, the user adds it to his collection (like quotes of relevant ideas, central statements or definitions). He may use these argumental chunks later in the construction of his own texts.
2. Adding headings: The reader also responds to the text adding personal headings through it. Usually pointing towards specific sections, these headings constitute a particular kind of tag, more complex and unique. This way of reflecting over text facilitates high-level reading and also provides of a good way of organizing the textual corpus. The heading [a] serves for handling many sections across different sources and it’s the user’s tool for administration and classification. The spatial arrangement of these elements constitutes the visualization map.
3. Annotating: The user is also likely to engage in a deeper dialogue with the text through the insertion of notes [n]. These notes may vary from simple commentary to mayor arguments questioning or extending ideas.

Figure 1, The numeric relationships between the three notation entities that can be marked within a tabular document. The relationships define the ontology behind these —rules of the game—.

These three actions that point to three different textual entities define the relative levels within a textual string: the heading [a] is the superior level, the metatext that holds the action of labeling or defining the semantic handler for the following unit: the section [§] that embodies the medium level, which is the actual level of the text and holds the action of chunking. The note [n] is the infra level because it deepens the argument, it expand it.

Figure 2: Textual tabular structure applied to the annotation entities.

From this relationship, we define a basic circularity within the annotation entities because of their ability to entail one with another allowed by the numeric relationships defined in their ontology. This way of operating with the annotation elements opens collective dialogue into overlapping textual narratives and opens the possibility of spatial modeling.

Figure 3. The CON§TEL interface.

The graphical interface is structured as a vertical split screen where the left side is dedicated to the cartographic model. This map presents the semantic proximity and relevance of every heading [a] of the system determined by the quantity of sections [§] related and the subsequent expansions of it through potential notes [n]. In this interactive map, the selected heading will be displayed in the center; underneath the map we can see the list of all the sections related to that heading and the bibliographic information about each one of them. The right side displays the text selected from the previous list and allows the user to annotate over it. The new annotations will be reflected in the map, providing the user with immediate visual feedback.

Conclusions and Future Work

In this paper, We have explained an existing system that is being tested in a specific Design and Architecture community, relying in collaborative writing and using group consensual memory as the main construct. Adding, modifying, reassembling; all these processes of structuring, recombination and contextualization of texts no longer happen in the head of single authors but in a public writing area: new discourse technologies arise from this distributed collaborative exchange of ideas, text processing in the truest sense of the word.

There is still a great deal of research needed on what community conversation is, the interaction of collaborative annotation and how new argumetns can arise from it.

Further research is needed for defining how smaller groups inside a community would work as filtering agents for improving semantic accuracy —defining individual scopes— in a way that this model can be extended to broader audiences, interconnecting different constellations, different consensual domains around specific subject matters.

References:

[1] Seely, Duguid (2002) The Social Life of Information – Business & Economics

[2] Bakken, Abstrakt, Liber (2003) Autopoietic Organization Theory: Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems Perspective, Copenhagen Business School Press.

[3] Bielenberg, Zacher (2005) Groups in Social Software: Utilizing Tagging to Integrate Individual Contexts for Social Navigation. Submitted to the Program of Digital Media, Universitaät Bremen in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Digital Media, 16. Aug. 2005.

[4] Neuwrith, Kaufer, Cavalier, Chandhok, Morris (1991) A Visual Design for Collaborative Work: Columns for Commenting and Annotation.

[5] Kaufer, Neuwirth, Chandhok, Morris (1994) Accommodating mixed sensory/modal preferences in collaborative writing systems. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Volume 3 Issue 3-4, Kluwer Academic Publishers

[6] Hargraves, Haven (2004) Designing to Support the Social Aesthetics of Inquiry.

[7] Maturana (1978) Biology of Language: The Epistemology of Reality. Psychology and Biology of Language and Thought: Essays in Honor of Eric Lenneberg New York: Academic Press.

[8] Maturana (2002) Metadesign, Instituto de Terapia Cognitiva.

[9] Iommi (1980) Elogio a la Unidad Discreta, Taller de Investigaciones Gráficas, Esc. Arq. Dis. UCV, Valparaíso

[10] Pendleton-Julian (1996) The Road that is Not a Road, and the Open City, The MIT Press

[11] Hyerle (1996) Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge. Association for Supervision & Curriculum.

 Other Project Links

• http://www.amereida.ucv.cl
• http://www.arquitecturaucv.cl/constel 

Instrucciones al lector:

Este poema está construído a partir de todas las continuidades posibles en la figura de los nueve puntos y las 72 conectivas. En la tabla, los números de 2 dígitos; por ejemplo el “54“, resume la frase: “desde el 5 al 4“.

Para leer se recomienda al lector saltear en la lectura encadenando consecutivamente número entero y conectiva. Cuando el lector decida terminar su recorrido, está invitado a leer el ø.

.1.La Luz de lo VisibleEl eje induce al cielo

a recogerle desde los hilos

alzando el salto que los partiría en el sacrificio

y será devuelto íntegro el cuerpo

luego del quiebre.

Inicia Sí

1 al 2

Puesto que el punto que inicia

ya dio sus alardes a la estrofa

y prima el valuarte

legión primitiva

decía de sí

el pasaje

Mi

1 al 3

Entre nudo, trazo y tiro

neutra eterna que no desciende

hace cifra y deja al día

a su merced

si la hora

place.

Hey !!

1 al 4

Un brinco estrecha la distancia

si aviso decomisa la conciencia

el orden dinamiza

estira y prolonga

sin cesar.

Quizá Su

1 al 5

Le liga una rueda enrarecida

una cinta que no deja

de tener un símil

parecido a su contrario

en el arribo

Tal Fue Que

1 al 6

Cuando suma paralela y lineatura

el edén deja el río en las cruzadas

este sí

este no

de una realidad

amenazante

El Árbol

1 al 7

Uno punto y todo

alimenta y recoge de la siembra

la raíz de un fruto dulce

que en la boca

deshace el ansia

indispensable

Verdad

1 al 8

Cada lazo enciende

el sucesivo acontecer

la índole consiente

al bienvenido

que ciego se debate

adentro

del enjambre

El Porvenir

1 al 9

Cantidades iban solas

deleitando a algún lector

que va saltando

del apéndice a la notación

y viceversa

al colofón

.2.

El Número Uno

La sortida

el genocidio del árbol y la identidad

el Stilo Nuovo

el pedido y la complacencia

la soledad

y la casa nueva

Y En Tris

2 al 1

Mientras hoy la luz retiene

amanece en la memoria

lo que era un precedente

y el sueño

venía de la tarde

Se Da

2 al 3

Lo más entrañable

era ir

de uno al otro lado

comprendiendo

que la media luna llena todo

y la noche

esclarece.

Decae

2 al 4

En el prisma se trasluce

la sagrada intimidad

del paso a paso

y el que sabe andar

persiste.

De

2 al 5

El signo que al párrafo

ilumina

advierte que alguno

cursó de soslayo

perfil por perfil

la osadía

del viento.

La Ruta Si

2 al 6

Que ver que imagina

verdear el paseo

tomarle la mano

y llevar a la historia

el golpe

la fuerza y las paces.

Volvió

2 al 7

La ruta instruye al caminante

y emancipa su fervor

abriendo puertas

y velando

en el umbral

su parsimonia.

No Sea

2 al 8

Parecía encontrar un alta

voz

el retiro que lo lleva

en el instante

a dejar la boca muda

y quieta

el arma.

Él

2 al 9

En el cinto leía

la feliz culminación

que hubo partido

en la inicial discriminada

y sigue en sus remansos

el amante

que conduce.

.3.

La Oda del Orden

Estado así se reconforta

y lo que es secreto deja de serlo

abre la luz

y las atemporalidades.

Y a La

3 al 1

El soplo del cielo

difundía las causas

del caso crucial

uno fuerte

y el débil

receptor.

Sólo

3 al 2

Trazado del ángel que

descubre

un alero en un recodo

cerca de la vida

que mortal

perece.

O Qué

3 al 4

En la cual ella entrega

hace y contempla

el día culminado

entre la dicha

y el pasmo

capital.

Mar Por

3 al 5

El paso sucesivo y anhelante

en cada premisa

el mundo pacifica

la región en que se yace

como un cardo

persistente.

Las Más

3 al 6

Pareciera que al ojo

se vinieran todos juntos

los que extreman

y los más íntimos

los centros

y sus lazos.

Digo

3 al 7

Por vialidad el grandor

que al menos especula

fascina

hasta que el llanto

hace del éxtasis

un conglomerado.

Alzóse

3 al 8

Ellos partieron en las medianías

donde no había retensión

y lo inanimado

aparecía

y desaparecía

aquí y allá.

Abre Ó

3 al 9

Los vastos tramos y las minucias

como animales encaramados

lejos del sitio

del nacimiento

que aquí

se olvida.

.4.

Las Partes del Cuerpo

¿Qué deja de hacerse?

…

adeus mes creaturas

mis individuos

jamás lo comprendido

levantó el ancla

de las virtudes.

La Edad

4 al 1

El tenor del enjambre

conduce a una sola

a ser reina

y a tomar de las otras

la flor

que en la vida

se da

por doquier.

El Axioma Que

4 al 2

Da la idea que uno ronda

entre las zarzas

y divisa un horizonte

que no cesa

de causar

alejamientos.

Virtus

4 al 3

Todo por verle apareciendo

de una vez y para siempre

quedándose y aliviando

la espera

que promete

la esperanza.

El Eje

4 al 5

Luz que agudiza las líneas

del roble

que rinde homenaje a la sombra

y paciente las tintas

reinciden

de nuevo.

O No

4 al 6

A su vez ella fuera de sí

cantaba y se iba

delgada y silente

tomando

aquí y allá

las flores pintadas

por mí.

Devino

4 al 7

Ellos saben rodear las estancias

eterna bondad del gentío

era el genio que lo levantaba

al seno aparente

de su

juventud.

O las Alas

4 al 8

Quizá todo perdía

su parte

un santo tendió

su camino a mis pies

besando los suelos

que habían abierto

el sendero

del orbe.

Por Uno

4 al 9

El hogar tardaría

en hacerse la casa

las fuerzas que adentro

alzaban el fuego

vestían la escena

de dulce

promesa.

.5.

El Oscuro Mar

Todo profano

mortal prudencia

la supresión dignificada

y el nuevo auxilio sirviendo al mundo

sin pleitesías.

Entre

5 al 1

Le enviaría en su senda

llevar la encomienda

la casa que funda

el acta del pueblo

y la nueva bandera

Al Hall

5 al 2

Al doble del río

cruzaban las barcas

y andaban silentes

las lobas

los niños

y un

astro.

Sin la Ciudad

5 al 3

Este mismo remanso

en el lado que el codo indicaba

principio

final

y entre

medio.

Si Hace

5 al 4

El mazo en la mano

regía las suertes

y el grupo que daba

suspensa

en la suma

acertaba.

E Impide

5 al 6

Pero había más

que nada

uno o dos

que coincidían

sin tocarse

y gozar

en la mira

elegancias.

Sin Ir

5 al 7

Extravío

que pierde en el hilo

la piedra que hacía el suceso

y en las cuentas

sembraron hastío

y olvido

de sí.

Para Sí

5 al 8

Centrado en la fila que ordena

distancia prudente

uno el otro

el hombro

tendía la mano

al fiel

precedente.

Ve Y

5 al 9

No fue tiempo el instante

ni marcar día a día

el resto que falta

y hacer del entero

congruente

paciencia

infinita.

.6.

El Instante Infinito

No hay más urgencia

ese misterio detuvo el tiempo y lo extendió

dejó regir la integridad

restituyendo lo que quebrado

en ascuas quedas

mudó su boca.

Llamó

6 al 1

Un dios debe haber

en el sitio que falta

y no puede tenerse

ni asirse de veras

salvo que en uno

piedad

quite el sable.

Como Si

6 al 2

Cómo estas cifras

todo lo hablan

sin que lo digan

y visten las aguas

como un remar

las naves

solas.

Enmudeció

6 al 3

Si así se pertenece

a la instancia a que se llega

y se ama a quien reside

si allá

nos dirigiésemos

sin pausa

cesaría.

¿Sabe?

6 al 4

Fuera de qué

si adentro estaba bien

la recompensa

la estadía

en medio

de un

sin par

A

6 al 5

El mejor y el menor

gracia encima

ése toma

lo redacta

y crece en demasía

como un triste

cardenal.

Todo su Extremo

6 al 7

Sin astucia no sucumbe

doquier le hila

sin traba

el tinglado

que rige virtud

y verdades.

(…)

6 al 8

Devuelve retoma

e integra

el mar que allí adentro

supone que haya

un nuevo país

por delante.

Más Todo

6 al 9

Pues que avista

cercano o lejos

casi un símil de sí

que va deleitando

al fuero que luce

su cara

evidente.

.7.

La Mano del Mundo

Y se detuvo en la sustancia

cuando el aire dejó despiertas

a las bellezas sin sus bondades

sin sus piedades eran no más

que una apariencia.

Ir En

7 al 1

Que cuando va

viene presto dejando

un sitio y su huella

y sin despedirse

nos dice su adiós

y su marca perdura

en la

era.

Buh !

7 al 2

Este tiempo que gasta

y deshace los días que el sol

ya no muestra

no finge ni muda

sino que contempla

las cosas

sin que se den

por vencidas.

Que Fin

7 al 3

Este rezo por flujo

que vierte

cadena en cadena

el orden que no ha de vencer

reverdece

en la siega

el secano.

Cual

7 al 4

Punto aparte

jamás deja fuera

el don que condice al entuerto

y trenza las ubres

que dan a las crías

prestancia.

Su

7 al 5

Valga el esfuerzo

la flor que en la mano

se pierde

deambula sin traba

quien rige en la siembra

su fe

puesta a punto.

Bella No

7 al 6

Y reincide de nuevo

sin culpa que espante

en la rama que gusta

tener ese fruto

que pronto

deshace

el aliento.

Veladuras

7 al 8

En el día perfecto

huída descanso

y su siesta

ni bien ni malvado

aquel y este otro

reside el sentido

en el plan

consiguiente.

Y

7 al 9

La vera que todo

atiende y recuerda

el alero que guarda

a quien sale fuera

el éter que cunde

en el cese

detiene

el fraseo.

.8.

El Espejo

Fuera de dios

obra maestra

se transmutaba lo claro en nulo

y en la piedra estaba fría la sangre

y cuando le hubo visto

tierra nació.

Arista

8 al 1

Pernocta su noche

y desierto amanece

si todo recobra

la nada que pierde

e ingresa a la faz

que hace frente

a las loas.

Temo Por

8 al 2

Si al cabo y a tientas

el uno que viene

que falta y no está

aparece tras algo

que hizo

que el pie anunciara

si acaso

deceso.

Capital

8 al 3

Esperar no debiese ninguno

la puerta reabre

el discurso

y la voz que cansina

incitaba

fijaba el umbral

de la dicha

infinita.

Usted

8 al 4

Una pequeña gracia

observada y bebida

con ágil pasión reluciente

vertió palmo a palmo

del fruto silvestre

el yugo

trucado.

Ninguno Fue

8 al 5

Es pues ya suficiente

mi paz mi terror

mi silencio

que oye del mundo

las teas latentes

que dicen

que

sí.

Piedad

8 al 6

El mar imposible

ola y ola

decanta

preciosas las lenguas

que miden la escuadra

tajante y tunante

ahora que ya

me convence.

Dió

8 al 7

El factor que acompaña

brutal caminata

pide a ello

lo aún sin que sepa

ese mosto que guarda

en sí

pura esencia.

La Creación

8 al 9

Ni primera o real

tenga en tanto

ni tardía evidencia

inflamable quebranto

vienes tú a pedir

un receso

que culpe al lector

de saltar en sucesos.

.9.

El Diálogo de las Criaturas

Viene diciendo pretos en negros

una secuencia

boca que mueva

nunca despierta

aldabán

gerano dos tres.

Uno de Nuevo

9 al 1

Turno sigue

y vuelta uno

habla de sí y comunica

escena y rostro

en el decurso

irrepetible.

Sea Que

9 al 2

Dice el mensaje

plegar el vientre

correr la suerte en buena hora

y salvas saludan

solaz

la omisión.

Si

9 al 3

Trina doble

quien dócil place

en crear las durmientes

del vilo en el celo

cuando en la vista

al par electo

suyo

lo hace.

¿Cómo?

9 al 4

De un rictus

tener por cierto

ser balanceado

irrevocable tempranamente

o al

finiquito.

Algo

9 al 5

Si lenta duda

el dial que signa

y marca un calce

hay algo fuera

semi maestro

jugado

e ido.

No

9 al 6

Tendida y docta

la caravana

cruzar presiente

el tramo aldaba

y conectivas de lo dispar

llamar sentido

a lo discreto.

Zas

9 al 7

Ideal maestro

el numeral

que convierte al juego

en la región de las suertes nuevas

que mío el ausente

y suyo el que toma

por diestro.

Allá

9 al 8

Índice electo

compaginarse las hojas solas

se solicita

de quien comanda

la vocación

que infinita vence

sin que

perezca.

.Ø.

Fuera del Eter

no caduca el término

y nos acompaña en su dilación eterna

que la memoria alimenta como el horizonte.

El paréntesis cierra su llave a los sucesos

que por un instante se dejaron ver

al unísono.

{ 123456789 }

Los 9, leídos como personajes

.1.

El Fiel Testigo

quien atiende paso a paso

la fe

que da su testimonio

en él la verdad

hoy cesa su temblar

reposa

y esclarece los sucesos

tanto que

lo ciego

se hace claro.

.2.

El Pensador Cabal

si liga

hace al todo

unificarse

portador de la cifra

que reúne

en el estrado

recoge y guarda ahí

en el cantar

al hacedor.

.3.

El Orfebre de Siempre

de lo disperso toma de aquí

allá también lo distraído

la joya luce

clarín celebra

compuesto entonces

pura mano

compón lo hallado

en lo disperso

y la ópera queda

en divina ordenanza.

.4.

El Restaurador Imprescindible

se pide que imponga

salud

y juvencia lozana

así sea

a sí mismo

el pedido revive al cuerpo

vital abrazo

que cura al falto

pues

vela que cada región

sea encienda

se quede en su juicio

y sanada

lo sea.

.5.

El Menudo Lingüista

cuánta lengua distinta

decir desconoce

y en raíz su sentido

esclarece en la niebla

que sin más dilucida

y distingue en lo ignoto

a los astros haciendo la luz

en las mismas marismas

que hoy

se disipan.

.6.

El Novel Poeta

en la voz que divisa

el momento perfecto

un tiempo que nutre

palabra y andado reluce

¿a quién le dice

si es él?

un fugaz tenle todo

y poquito.

.7.

El Sembrador Calzado

ese extremo que toma

del nido preciado

el fruto mas digno

y semillas dispersas

en el surco labrado

queda siembra en las tierras

augurio paciente

y crecidas

en flor.

.8.

El Relator de Sí

está quien se mira y se ve

está el que se ve y reconoce

ahí está si mismo

diciendo al cronista

relato en el hecho

la vista en el frente

y lo habiendo a su espalda

viviendo.

.9.

El Regidor de Palabra

el que rige y legisla

a las hordas inermes

y advierte presencias

quien sea

que él

se dignase

o palabra real

del registro

y así vive y convive

el mayor y el menor

y mi misma persona.

.Ø.

Nadie Si Cabe

lapsus

&

ud. sabe

la dolencia que aguarda

la llamada enllamarada

estaba él y su dedicación

la numeralia y el contador

el dándose cuenta

de lo acontecido

la noche buena

que le acompaña

antes de amarse.

Construimos un universo del 1 al 9, más el 0;

entendemos que esto es una restricción; sino como; por ejemplo,

necesitamos un campo finito, atrapable para tejer a partir de él

las relaciones que nos posibiliten una comprensión del infinito.

A ello llamamos el quantum del 9 pues nos interesa la no repetición,

esto es La Oda del Orden, la restricción nos da el orden y el campo

de juego.

.2.

El Entremedio

La poesía requiere el vínculo entre los

versos, así como en la phalène las conectivas reúnen

a las palabras; se ha hecho que entre verso y verso (número y número)

se ha dibujado otro verso que conmemore ese instante del transcurso, por

eso Instante Infinito.

.3.

La Disyunción

Tipográficamente también hay una estancia,

diremos instancia, pues con estos 9 más 0 dígitos podemos

construir un infinito. El número Uno es esta unidad; las probabilidades

entre ellos juegan a las mismas relaciones que en nuestros conectores.

El poema brinca connaturalmente de un natural a otro.

.4.

El Desconocido

Amereida en la pg. 142 dice: “faltan palabras

para la forma de nombrar la andada”; sin duda por eso dibujamos,

para dar nombre a lo andado y así tener palabra; así dilucidamos,

entonces El Oscuro Mar se clarifica& faltan palabras porque ellas

abren, faltan porque nunca acaban; faltan porque es preciso esclarecer

la travesía.

.5.

La Solicitud

La poesía cuando es jugada se diferencia de

la literatura, interviene lo que vulgarmente llamamos vida: esto es La

Mano del Mundo, la que toma partido y es vivida como un acto semejante

al cotidiano; la poesía hecha por todos, axioma del Conde de Lautreamont,

pide de cada cual su memoria y su integridad, su mano, su jugada.

.6.

La Invención

Todo oficio permite, además de lo propio, otra

cosa; posibilita una nueva actividad humana, un quehacer que antes no

era posible, el zapatero que finamente enguanta el pie abre el mundo al

caminante, a los viajeros a los peregrinos. Los oficios hacen expresiva

la posibilidad del ha-lugar, la poesía canta a esta instancia de

la abertura. Ha de ser El Espejo; el rostro de uno mismo que la poesía

intenta develar.

.7.

El Reconocimiento

El acto que provoca en el lector el salto del exterior

a su intimidad exige de una poética que manifiesta lo extraordinario.

Se establece un vínculo en el lector que hace de eje entre su mundanidad

y lo celeste; esto restituye al cuerpo luego del quiebre; está

el acto ejecutándose in-situ La Luz de lo Visible. La interioridad

el presente hace patente el uno a uno& así ha de leerse.

.8.

La Hospitalidad

Y danzan las partes al ritmo en que impera el habla.

El Diálogo de las Criaturas se posibilita por una palabra que hace

regir las suertes nuevas; lo ya creado no basta si no se hospeda en otra

criatura cuando ella expresa su carencia y la totalidad en la falta del

otro -su complemento-; palabra que permite el diálogo.

.9.

La Restauración

Tal acto pide del cuerpo su ejercicio, voluntad y voluptuosidad;

el poeta a flor de labios libera por su boca lo inescrito y ahí

dicho; el oidor retiene el retumbar de la palabra poética. Las

Partes del Cuerpo como las partes de un todo juegan desde su unicidad

hasta sus combinatorias no infinitas. El autor y el lector se integran

en una persona: el auctor; tal jugada& y se rectifican uno al otro.

.Ø.

La Comprensión

Sepa el lector que aquí no cesa, que la elección

ha sido suerte de manos dignas. Tómese ya lo que afuera queda y

canta silente lo que se ha dicho& No cae en la cuenta pues no le tiene

y nunca le tuvo; estaba fuera; iba cantando de una en una antes que hiciera

decena entera.. Y ahí estaba, Fuera del Éter, fuera de sí

y lejos de todo haciendo al son rimar la lid de este poema y leyendo,

cómo si no, esas palabras que describieron tenerse cerca, contigüidad,

llamadas prestas que en fin& vacías; y hacen del cero la diferencia.