I cannot harken a lamp post
For I do not know any
I cannot hear the sound of swaying wheat
For I have never felt it’s rustling velvet
I fear the ocean
So I will not sing its praises
A bird perched on a branch
Does not excite a metaphor
Nor does a tassel of hair
Loosen my creative palate
A murmuring sound
From the alley
Does, however,
Elicit dreams from mud
A misdirection, a pregnant pause,
Calls for exuberance
A fleeting gesture, a goodbye
Allows for exultation
A denial, an awkward kiss
Are legends eternal
And the pace is quickening
To a sickening speed
Innocence is lost
On contact
With the air around the mother’s womb
Insight is gained
With each awful glance
From my deprived neighbor
Undressing my soul from my body
I am certain of salvation
For I have seen creation
In those brown eyes
I have felt condolence
In your choking hair
Your body
Waiting to be engulfed
I have listened to that feminine snore
And wondered aloud
If I sound the same
I have whispered in your ear
And found you reticent

I know nothing is an accident
Way leads on to way
I know the leaves scattering before my feet
Leave nothing to chance
All points lead
Me
In your general direction

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.

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