synergetic themes, connections and formats

the "synergetic transformations" issue now reached its midpoint: 13 works are online, 10 are still upcoming.

i keep being amazed by the different formats that now form the new issue, and by the connections that developed between the different contributions. some of them, i noticed during editing. some of them surfaced now, during the launch.

here some examples, notes and quotes:

h/eart
in the current group "what alley found in poem" and "h/eartland", the direct connection was the theme of art. after putting them together, i came across this direct parall in words and images:

from alley __ from word ____from he/art
heartland ___industrious distances ___ indiscreet streets

trees, reptiles.. 
some themes are obvious across the groups, especially the trees.The Group Treeline Lullaby / Potted / Overtures is based on the tree theme, and there is a second tree group to follow. why so many trees? maybe they are one of the symbols of constant transformation.

trees are also present in Cross / Comfort, and in Haunted Garden. added to that, both works venture into the realm of animals:

Winter shower stops.
Reptile, turtle, talks a poem.
Home west delights him.

one moment I'm a frog
another a toad
then a cat
a dog
it depends on the size of the day

..wings, seasons..
another animal connection is lingering in the second group: "Make Believe" / "Spool of Life" and "My Unified Theory of Everything". when grouping them, i followed the word “life / untangling”. what i hadn’t realized until i now put this note together: all 3 collaborations were created between partners of both genders - and all have a wing included, either in word or in the image:

when a crow lifts a wing
the universe sleight-of-hand

there lies the rooster at my feet,
waiting for me to untangle him

how to play the flute
to please the angels,

"winter" will also picked up in a later group again. and there are, of course, many more thematic cross connections, some obvious, some subtle - another

poetry & stories
just like the trees keep reappearing as theme, there is a format that keeps reappearing throughout the collaborations: poems. from the 23 collaborations, 19 include poems, and 5 include short stories. (1 includes both, that's how 19+5 makes 23).

working through the issue, i realized that maybe  poetry lends more to collaborations than stories: it probably is easier from format to write a poem together than a story, and some poetic formats almost invite collaboration, like the classic renka - maybe that is why there are 2 of them included in the issue: "Treeline Lullaby" and  "Haunted Garden".  another classic format that lends to collaboration and  is upcoming yet is: a sonnet.

feedback / coincidences
some more connections and notes arrived through mail, and in facebook conversations, which are now also online, here: Re: synergy

~

addition: a mini-dialogue on the blog entry (via facebook, link)

"The threads you find between collaborations, done independently, is fascinating. It is also wonderful to see some of the many reactions brought together in one place, to get the overall impact of this remarkable issue. And even further so, to see the editor, as I am sure the readers will also, discover new delights even after having lived with these works for so long." - Walter Björkman

"Yes, it's fascinating! One of the reason to launch the issue gradually is to give those discoveries more space, and to enhance the existing connections by combining the works into groups. for this issue, i really wished there was an exhibition, a space to visit them physically, especially the art, maybe in a sorting that keeps changing." - Dorothee Lang