My bike ride to work
at 6:00 in
the morning,
is an equation of the heart,
lonely=joy.

I am left with my thoughts,
my deep breathing,
my gears
and oily chains.

I watch the sun
try to peek out
and I wonder
what they are doing
in Korea,
England, Ireland,
elsewhere,
always elsewhere.

I hit a bump
and I am spurred
into another, truer
equation,
meditation + bicycle + early morning= prayer of self.

It is a worship of appreciation,
of life, experience, past,
and the potential of this very day.

No other future exists except
this day, my gears, my bike lock slung
in a bag across my back.

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

4 thoughts on “Bicycle and morning equations”
  1. I find myself daydreaming so much on my ride in to work that i am completely surprised I am at the office instead of somewhere else…

    Or, i am singing to myself and doing my synchronized bike routine until i am snapped back into reality by the serious bikers whizzing past me. Fortunately, they politely pretend like they did not see anything.

  2. I find myself daydreaming so much on my ride in to work that i am completely surprised I am at the office instead of somewhere else…

    Or, i am singing to myself and doing my synchronized bike routine until i am snapped back into reality by the serious bikers whizzing past me. Fortunately, they politely pretend like they did not see anything.

  3. I find myself daydreaming so much on my ride in to work that i am completely surprised I am at the office instead of somewhere else…

    Or, i am singing to myself and doing my synchronized bike routine until i am snapped back into reality by the serious bikers whizzing past me. Fortunately, they politely pretend like they did not see anything.

  4. I find myself daydreaming so much on my ride in to work that i am completely surprised I am at the office instead of somewhere else…

    Or, i am singing to myself and doing my synchronized bike routine until i am snapped back into reality by the serious bikers whizzing past me. Fortunately, they politely pretend like they did not see anything.

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