Reading and Writing...

Reading always has been one of my favorite activities so I'm happy that Elissa Field chose reading and its relationship to writing as the final prompt for the Wordsmith Studio's 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop. Thanks again, Elissa, for all of the work you've done on the blog hop.

What are you reading?

I have just finished or am in the process of reading A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver, Later Poems: Selected and New by Adrienne Rich and The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman.

The first to relate to the genre in which I write and the third to my favorite genre to read.

What is your favorite genre?

My favorite genre is mystery. It all started with Sherlock Holmes. I can take my interest in him back to the age of 11 so I think I qualify as a lifelong fan. I'm not a snob, though. I enjoy reading non-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories involving Holmes and Watson. I like to see what other authors do with the classic characters.

A couple of years ago, I was introduced to the book Mystery Muses edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar. The editors asked 100 mystery writers to write about an author/book that inspired them to write mysteries. It's a great resource for classic and contemporary mysteries, both of which I enjoy.

Do you also have an alternate genre?

Biography or more broadly, non-fiction. If I was studying something in school or just took an interest in a person or subject, I would read as much as I could about them/it.

Are there alternative forms of writing or art that you have found inspiring or even dabbled in?

After I began writing poetry regularly, I found myself spending more and more time at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park. I wrote a poem inspired by one of the sculptures and found out a few months later that a poem inspired by visual art is called an Ekphrastic poem. Eventually, I began taking my own photographs and combining them with original poetry to create visual art pieces.

What music inspires your writing?

In 2010, I took a jazz poetry workshop and I was hooked by the end of it. I'm fortunate to live in an area that played a significant role in jazz history and to have the fabulous American Jazz Museum as a resource.

Do you have a favorite book, article or magazine for writing advice?

One of my favorites is Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. A favorite quote from the book is:

If  you read a great poem aloud--for example, “To a Skylark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley--and read it the way he set it up and punctuated it, what you are doing is breathing his inspired breath at the moment he wrote that poem. That breath was so powerful it still can be awakened in us over 150 years later.

What do you like to read? How does your reading enhance your writing?

Links

The Crystal Field Scholarship Reading

Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day

Author Page

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All Aboard

Photo by Dana Dampier

All Aboard

Board the train.

Take the ride.

Feel the cars shift

from side-to-side.

Look down the tracks.

They begin to blur.

Do they go straight

or take a curve?

The train moves on.

The tracks are sound.

Enjoy the journey

wherever you're bound.

Thanks to Dana Dampier for this week's Wordsmith Studio Creative Prompt-A Picture Worth a Thousand Words. Thank you for sharing one of your photos with us.

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Illumination

Illumination

Travel the road

as it unfolds,

straight or twisted,

paved or stones.

Trust you are going

where you need to go

with whomever

you are meant to know.

Wander unbowed

with a peaceful soul.

Look for the lampposts

and follow the glow.

I was looking through my photographs and this one caught my attention. A new Ekphrastic poem (a poem inspired by visual art) was born.

How do you navigate through life?

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Labyrinth

Glass Labyrinth by Robert Morris

Labyrinth

Trying to

find my way out.

I focus on the path

that lies before me.

My steps are

cautious,

unsteady.

What if I

quicken my pace

and smash

into the glass?

I need to look

at the highest point

for guidance

and believe.

This is an Ekphrastic poem, a poem inspired by visual art. The sculpture Glass Labyrinth by Robert Morris was the source of inspiration. It was commissioned in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park.

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Art from Art

In November 2009, I went to the luminary  walk at the Kansas City Sculpture Park for the first time.  I stopped by George Segal's Rush Hour and was facinated by the docent's explanation of the process used to create the sculpture. So much so, that I went home and wrote a poem, "The Lost Wax Process."

 

Seven months later, I learned that I had written a piece of Ekphrastic Poetry and had joined in a well-established tradition of writing poetry inspired by visual art. Although I rarely set out to do so, I found myself writing ekphrastic poems regularly. Now, they are a staple of my poetry diet, both the ones I write and those that are written by others.

 

This week, I had the opportunity to be part of the opening of an exhibit at The Writers Place called "Art from Art".  It is an exhibit of ekphrastic works. One of the joys of being part of this exhibit is sharing space with friends who have been an important part of my journey with ekphrastics. The other is the diversity of the work that comes out of the simple concept of letting art inspire art.

 

Have you done any ekphrastic writing? Have you ever written a poem inspired by a family photograph? What about writing inspired by other art forms such as music, movies, plays or books?

 

 

You also might be interested in Beyonds Words, at the American Jazz Museum.

 

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Writing to the Nines

I'm not quite ready to give up writing about poetry forms. I'm going to go back a little more than a month when Robert Lee Brewer put out a call for Nonet Poems on his Poetic Asides blog.

The Nonet begins with a line that contains nine syllables. The following lines each decrease by one syllable so that the ninth and final line only contains one.

At the time this blog post appeared, I was in Canada visiting my brother and sister-in-law. They took me to see the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. We saw many works by Canadian artists know as The Group of Seven. One of my favorites from the group is Lawren S. Harris. I chose to write my Nonet about my reaction to one of his paintings.

Artistry

The painting turns liquid before me.
Suddenly, the water seems real.
I want to dip my finger
into the clear blue pool.
Let the fluid chill
me to the bone
while sunlight
filters
down.


See Robert Lee Brewer's latest challenge-The Haibun

Another poem from my summer vacation


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Ekphrastic Poetry

I enjoy writing ekphrastic poetry; poetry that is inspired by visual art. On one of my morning walks, I took the photograph below and then wrote the poem that follows.

Color My Day

Color my day
as expansive as
a clear blue sky
as alive as
the green trees
as gentle as
a pink rose
as rich as
the golden sun
Color my day
brilliantly.

Try writing an ekphrastic poem. Find a painting, photograph, sculpture or other piece of visual art that intrigues you and see what you are inspired to write. The piece may be in a museum, a park or even in your own home. You may be drawn to describe the work, focus on a few elements of it or even have a conversation with the artist. 

I hope you find that writing ekphrastic poetry enhances both your writing and your enjoyment of the art.

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