Part two of Boing Boing tv‘s interviews with Kevin Kelly:
Years before he helped launch Wired Magazine in 1993 (hey, happy 15th birthday, Wired!), Kevin Kelly took an amazing journey. He rode his bicycle across the US in 1979, and produced an ink sketch and a haiku in a sketchbook for each day of the three month, 5,000 mile trip. Those sketches and poems were scanned and published as “Bicycle Haiku.” (link to purchase on Lulu). Kelly explains:
A typical scene would be like the day I passed through Francisco, Indiana. On a page full of cow faces staring up at me, the haiku goes: “Collective silence/Like I walked into the wrong room/Every horned head turned.” (…) I scanned the 151 images in the original book (which is the same size as this one) and printed this at a books-on-demand printer in 2001.
Previously, in part 1 of our interview, Kelly spoke about his love of the camera, during his “nomadic photojournalist” phase in Asia. Today we hear why he gave up that camera, on this very personal quest.
Related: A 1997 episode of the radio program This American Life features a longer audio piece in which Kevin shares more of the spiritual underpinnings of “Bicycle Haiku.” It’s a beautiful story: Link.
I’m such a nerd that while I’m listening to KK, I’m simultaneously distracted by trying to figure out what all the books are on the bookshelf there. (Does calling oneself a nerd qualify as backdoor bragging?)
The This American Life show referenced here, called “Shoulda Been Dead”, is probably one of the most moving things I’ve ever heard on NPR. Hearing Kevin Kelly’s story really changed my life. I’m getting all verklempt just thinking about it. He rocks.