GET YOUR POEM ON FOR A GOOD CAUSE
Hickory area writers and would-be writers are again invited to participate in this year’s Aroma of Art Fundraiser to benefit ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills-area Alliance), the Flynn Home of Hickory, and the Women’s Resource Center.
Aroma of Art consists of a month-long exhibit of works of art donated by local artists and auctioned off at the event’s Grand Finale on March 1 from 5:30 to 8:30 at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse on the lower floor of the Hickory Furniture Mart. Poets can participate by writing poems based on or inspired by the donated works of art which will be on display at the Furniture Mart beginning February 2. A Kick-Off Party will be held that day from 6 to 8 at the Mart.
To be eligible, poems must be submitted to CVCC creative writing instructor and Founder of Poetry Hickory, Scott Owens, no later than 5:00 PM, February 14. Poems can be submitted by email to asowens1@yahoo.com or dropped off at Taste Full Beans in downtown Hickory. Poems must fit on one side of a 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper, and the submission should include the writer’s name, email address, and phone number, as well as the work of art on which the poem is based.
Entries will be judged by a panel of local writers. Up to 10 poems will be selected to be framed and hung as part of the exhibit for the rest of the month. Of those, 3 will be selected to be read aloud by the authors at the Grand Finale. Selected poems may also be published in a local newspaper. At the Grand Finale, the poems selected for display will be presented along with the matching work of art to the winning bidder.
Showing posts with label Aroma of Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aroma of Art. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Ekphrastic Joy, Take 4
EKPHRASTIC JOY, TAKE 4
Ekphrastic poetry is poetry that is created based on viewing a work of art in a different discipline -- a painting or photograph or sculpture, for example. For the fourth consecutive year, the Aroma of Art, one of Hickory’s largest annual charitable and artistic events, invites area poets to write ekphrastic poems based on the art that will be exhibited at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory throughout the month of February.
The Aroma of Art, in its eleventh year, is a month long auction of paintings, photography, jewelry, sculpture, etc. all created by over 100 local artists to benefit the Catawba County Council on Adolescence, ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills Alliance) and Cooperative Christian Ministry. Last year’s Aroma of Art raised more than $10,000 for area charities.
Donations of artwork are accepted at Taste Full Beans until January 29 and then displayed there starting with the Aroma of Art Kick-Off Event on February 3. Bids are accepted throughout February, and the winning bids are announced at the Finale on March 3. Some winners, however, will receive not only the work of art they have bid on but also an original poem written about that work.
Writers are invited to submit poems based on the works on display in the Aroma of Art to Scott Owens by noon on February 15. A jury of local poets will select as many as 20 poems to display with the pieces in the auction and to be presented to the winners of the corresponding art work during Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale. At least three poems will also be chosen to be read at the Grand Finale.
Poems should include the author’s name and the title and creator of the “inspiring” work of art. The phone number, and email address of the author should be on the back or on an attached sheet. Poems may be submitted at Taste Full Beans or by email to asowens1@yahoo.com. Selections will be made by the end of the day February 16.
More information on Aroma of Art can be found at www.aromaofart.blogspot.com or by calling 828-325-0108.
Ekphrastic poetry is poetry that is created based on viewing a work of art in a different discipline -- a painting or photograph or sculpture, for example. For the fourth consecutive year, the Aroma of Art, one of Hickory’s largest annual charitable and artistic events, invites area poets to write ekphrastic poems based on the art that will be exhibited at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory throughout the month of February.
The Aroma of Art, in its eleventh year, is a month long auction of paintings, photography, jewelry, sculpture, etc. all created by over 100 local artists to benefit the Catawba County Council on Adolescence, ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills Alliance) and Cooperative Christian Ministry. Last year’s Aroma of Art raised more than $10,000 for area charities.
Donations of artwork are accepted at Taste Full Beans until January 29 and then displayed there starting with the Aroma of Art Kick-Off Event on February 3. Bids are accepted throughout February, and the winning bids are announced at the Finale on March 3. Some winners, however, will receive not only the work of art they have bid on but also an original poem written about that work.
Writers are invited to submit poems based on the works on display in the Aroma of Art to Scott Owens by noon on February 15. A jury of local poets will select as many as 20 poems to display with the pieces in the auction and to be presented to the winners of the corresponding art work during Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale. At least three poems will also be chosen to be read at the Grand Finale.
Poems should include the author’s name and the title and creator of the “inspiring” work of art. The phone number, and email address of the author should be on the back or on an attached sheet. Poems may be submitted at Taste Full Beans or by email to asowens1@yahoo.com. Selections will be made by the end of the day February 16.
More information on Aroma of Art can be found at www.aromaofart.blogspot.com or by calling 828-325-0108.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Aroma of Art Winning Poems Selected
Aroma of Art Winning Poems Selected
Twenty-two poems were submitted for the 2010 Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Contest. Each poem was judged anonymously by two widely-published poets, and a consensus was reached on 9 poems that will be framed and hung next to the works of art that inspired them for the remainder of the Aroma of Art Benefit Auction at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory. These signed, framed poems will then be presented to the winners of the corresponding works of art during the Aroma of Art Grand Finale from 5:30 to 7:30 on March 4.
Additionally, 3 of the 9 poems were selected to be read by their authors as part of the entertainment during the Grand Finale. The 3 poems to be read are “Fostering a Child” by Jeanne Ackley, “Faded Rose” by Ann Fox Chandonnet, and “Beloved” by Bud Caywood. My own poems “Once Upon This Balcony” and “Relic” were also chosen to be read, but unfortunately I will not be able to be in attendance at the Grand Finale.
Poetry Hickory and the Aroma of Art would like to thank all of those who participated in this interdisciplinary, charitable project and would like to encourage lovers of poetry and art alike to visit Taste Full Beans during the month of February to place bids on the many beautiful works of art that have been donated to benefit the AIDS Leadership Foothills Alliance and the Catawba County Humane Society.
Each of the 9 poems selected for display are printed below. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who submitted work.
Fostering a Child
by Jeanne Ackley
after the Doug James’ painting “After a Swim”
Her eyes were not able
to shut out the violence.
Her ears could not help but hear
the curses, the threats.
We finally found
a swim suit
that hid some of the scars,
covered most of the bruises.
She wades into the pool,
waits silently
for the other children
to begin splashing and screaming.
Slowly, her hands hit the water,
with clenched fists.
She screams,
but not with glee.
Yesterday,
for the first time,
when I smiled at her,
she smiled back.
Faded Rose
by Ann Fox Chandonnet
after collage by Sara Frisbee
"years ago, but always like yesterday"
Miep Gies, 1987
Shards of memory
from a brain dig.
Scraps of pink net flutter in the breeze.
Bristles and dental picks probe
at what might be vertebra or vase,
shoe leather or locket.
More broken china;
is that a rose?
Carbon dating will settle the issue.
Was this chipped flask filled with chipped tears?
Will Homer tell this tale?
Sweet sisters giggle under the weeping willow,
making daisy chains.
Three children perish within four days.
Their mother buries them. Then their father.
Then she too is gone, and a neighbor takes the screaming baby home.
A horn button, a veal knuckle,
a flattened silver thimble.
Do we find what is lost
or only a faded dream of a faded dream?
Beloved
by Bud Caywood
after Sara Frisbee’s “Beloved”
In the beginning,
there was a loud clamor of many voices,
and men and animals were called to the beloved child;
their murmurs mingled with fears and dreams,
with old prophecies that had been told again and again.
Don’t blame us now that many are still blind to believing,
deaf to the songs, and lost to not knowing the truth.
There is still a child’s voice in the middle of the heart
that would have us rise from a restless slumber,
out of that tangle of fears and memories
to a soft halo of light where the beloved
still waits for us patiently.
Once Upon This Balcony
by Scott Owens
after Meredith Janssen’s photograph “Et Juliet”
Once upon this balcony,
or another one just like it,
the sun might have shone,
at least it might have seemed
that way from below.
The moon might have drawn
its curtain of day
across a humbled face.
One might have spoken
and remained unheard
yet still made an impression
the way anything not heard clearly
seems more important than the actual words,
and isolated on such a promontory,
only a tree and stars for company,
what was might easily have been
mistaken for what might seem.
One might have been seen
from afar through hyperbolic eyes,
just a girl really, one too young
at that for such talk of virgins,
such contrast with stars.
One might have been the object of obsession,
of overactive imagination,
of inappropriate desire.
One might have weighed
love and obligation, passion and truth,
counseled treason, conspired.
One might have deconstructed
names and words and the whole
premise of symbolism,
leading, of course, to the idea
of pluralism which proved
as always a better idea
than reality can ever bear.
Then again, given all that played out
before her, one might have just jumped.
There was, after all,
if any truth to be told in plays,
plenty of jumping involved
once from this balcony,
a simple balcony,
a bit aged,
and much too open.
Relic
by Scott Owens
after Joe Young’s photograph “Time Goes By”
Time does go by
not to mention around,
through, in,
and eventually over.
Tortoise-like it plods on,
patiently waiting
for the moment we stop,
stand still too long.
Even masters of space,
speed, and distance
know of this inevitable
reclamation but remain
unprepared, unbelieving,
just the sort of thing
we think happens
only to other people.
Who, possessing
even a shred of such
power, could be anything
but incredulous,
each thing its own
Ozymandias, pride
half sunk, only
passion surviving.
Disillusionment of Color Change
by Scott Owens
after David DeJesus’ photograph “China Town”
Pink shades, green walls,
fire escapes always descending
from perfectly squared landings,
places to stand still in.
Maybe a fan or a.c.
to cool the day’s oppression
break the monotony
of brick piled on brick,
carefully mortared to close
all hopes of anything open.
Pink shades, green walls,
only in one left open shades
of blue, a suggestion of clouds,
a hint of some horizon.
Motel in Memphis
by Cherie Berry
after Hulda Bewley’s photograph “Motel in Memphis”
Women had a place, on their back, beneath men.
She introduced an element of honesty, a balls-out competition
for customers.
The new kid on the block was by far the biggest earner.
Dressed in skyscraper heels, a red leather mini-skirt
and a blond wig, three times divorced, she had learned the
painful way that you make more money.
On a business and professional level, she didn’t like it then,
and she didn’t like it now.
This business chewed you up and spit you out like a bad taste,
but, sometimes you got lucky.
With the grace of the dancer she once had been, slowly and
insolently she turned in front of the seated man.
He was tempted to put his hands on her, but he did not get up.
No one wanted to be featured in a headline, no one wanted
to get caught.
She gave him a look from eyes that had seen it all and done
it all twice.
He smiled and mimicked putting tape across his mouth.
Every man has a weakness.
Event
by Patricia Deaton
after Sara Frisbee’s “Concrete Love”
Don’t hand me that. Flowers won’t do it.
And don’t tell me it will be all right.
This will NOT. EVER. BE. ALL. RIGHT.
All the party-color trappings in the world won’t make this a celebration.
I’m broken here.
The last slow dance is over.
The lights have come on.
The band is packing up.
Not even a chance for a one-night stand.
What happened to the hugs and kisses?
XOXO, love, for the record,
Happening carefree and written down.
Touching, talking, Not touching, not talking,
The X’s and O’s unfamiliar, gone wild
Like crazy confetti from hell raining down.
I’m a party of one and I’m broken.
An Invitation with Strings Attached
by Jeanne Ackley
after J.W. Baker’s painting “Black Bear”
If you are
a member of the Bear Clan,
or on a sacred journey,
follow me.
I will take you
to the Dakotas, to Bear Butte.
Follow me,
to our sacred circle.
We will gather in the Black Hills.
Follow me,
into the sweat lodge,
where our sacred ceremonies are held.
Follow me,
if your heart is in the right place.
Sacred knowledge is not for sale.
We will know if you are sincere.
Twenty-two poems were submitted for the 2010 Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Contest. Each poem was judged anonymously by two widely-published poets, and a consensus was reached on 9 poems that will be framed and hung next to the works of art that inspired them for the remainder of the Aroma of Art Benefit Auction at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory. These signed, framed poems will then be presented to the winners of the corresponding works of art during the Aroma of Art Grand Finale from 5:30 to 7:30 on March 4.
Additionally, 3 of the 9 poems were selected to be read by their authors as part of the entertainment during the Grand Finale. The 3 poems to be read are “Fostering a Child” by Jeanne Ackley, “Faded Rose” by Ann Fox Chandonnet, and “Beloved” by Bud Caywood. My own poems “Once Upon This Balcony” and “Relic” were also chosen to be read, but unfortunately I will not be able to be in attendance at the Grand Finale.
Poetry Hickory and the Aroma of Art would like to thank all of those who participated in this interdisciplinary, charitable project and would like to encourage lovers of poetry and art alike to visit Taste Full Beans during the month of February to place bids on the many beautiful works of art that have been donated to benefit the AIDS Leadership Foothills Alliance and the Catawba County Humane Society.
Each of the 9 poems selected for display are printed below. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who submitted work.
Fostering a Child
by Jeanne Ackley
after the Doug James’ painting “After a Swim”
Her eyes were not able
to shut out the violence.
Her ears could not help but hear
the curses, the threats.
We finally found
a swim suit
that hid some of the scars,
covered most of the bruises.
She wades into the pool,
waits silently
for the other children
to begin splashing and screaming.
Slowly, her hands hit the water,
with clenched fists.
She screams,
but not with glee.
Yesterday,
for the first time,
when I smiled at her,
she smiled back.
Faded Rose
by Ann Fox Chandonnet
after collage by Sara Frisbee
"years ago, but always like yesterday"
Miep Gies, 1987
Shards of memory
from a brain dig.
Scraps of pink net flutter in the breeze.
Bristles and dental picks probe
at what might be vertebra or vase,
shoe leather or locket.
More broken china;
is that a rose?
Carbon dating will settle the issue.
Was this chipped flask filled with chipped tears?
Will Homer tell this tale?
Sweet sisters giggle under the weeping willow,
making daisy chains.
Three children perish within four days.
Their mother buries them. Then their father.
Then she too is gone, and a neighbor takes the screaming baby home.
A horn button, a veal knuckle,
a flattened silver thimble.
Do we find what is lost
or only a faded dream of a faded dream?
Beloved
by Bud Caywood
after Sara Frisbee’s “Beloved”
In the beginning,
there was a loud clamor of many voices,
and men and animals were called to the beloved child;
their murmurs mingled with fears and dreams,
with old prophecies that had been told again and again.
Don’t blame us now that many are still blind to believing,
deaf to the songs, and lost to not knowing the truth.
There is still a child’s voice in the middle of the heart
that would have us rise from a restless slumber,
out of that tangle of fears and memories
to a soft halo of light where the beloved
still waits for us patiently.
Once Upon This Balcony
by Scott Owens
after Meredith Janssen’s photograph “Et Juliet”
Once upon this balcony,
or another one just like it,
the sun might have shone,
at least it might have seemed
that way from below.
The moon might have drawn
its curtain of day
across a humbled face.
One might have spoken
and remained unheard
yet still made an impression
the way anything not heard clearly
seems more important than the actual words,
and isolated on such a promontory,
only a tree and stars for company,
what was might easily have been
mistaken for what might seem.
One might have been seen
from afar through hyperbolic eyes,
just a girl really, one too young
at that for such talk of virgins,
such contrast with stars.
One might have been the object of obsession,
of overactive imagination,
of inappropriate desire.
One might have weighed
love and obligation, passion and truth,
counseled treason, conspired.
One might have deconstructed
names and words and the whole
premise of symbolism,
leading, of course, to the idea
of pluralism which proved
as always a better idea
than reality can ever bear.
Then again, given all that played out
before her, one might have just jumped.
There was, after all,
if any truth to be told in plays,
plenty of jumping involved
once from this balcony,
a simple balcony,
a bit aged,
and much too open.
Relic
by Scott Owens
after Joe Young’s photograph “Time Goes By”
Time does go by
not to mention around,
through, in,
and eventually over.
Tortoise-like it plods on,
patiently waiting
for the moment we stop,
stand still too long.
Even masters of space,
speed, and distance
know of this inevitable
reclamation but remain
unprepared, unbelieving,
just the sort of thing
we think happens
only to other people.
Who, possessing
even a shred of such
power, could be anything
but incredulous,
each thing its own
Ozymandias, pride
half sunk, only
passion surviving.
Disillusionment of Color Change
by Scott Owens
after David DeJesus’ photograph “China Town”
Pink shades, green walls,
fire escapes always descending
from perfectly squared landings,
places to stand still in.
Maybe a fan or a.c.
to cool the day’s oppression
break the monotony
of brick piled on brick,
carefully mortared to close
all hopes of anything open.
Pink shades, green walls,
only in one left open shades
of blue, a suggestion of clouds,
a hint of some horizon.
Motel in Memphis
by Cherie Berry
after Hulda Bewley’s photograph “Motel in Memphis”
Women had a place, on their back, beneath men.
She introduced an element of honesty, a balls-out competition
for customers.
The new kid on the block was by far the biggest earner.
Dressed in skyscraper heels, a red leather mini-skirt
and a blond wig, three times divorced, she had learned the
painful way that you make more money.
On a business and professional level, she didn’t like it then,
and she didn’t like it now.
This business chewed you up and spit you out like a bad taste,
but, sometimes you got lucky.
With the grace of the dancer she once had been, slowly and
insolently she turned in front of the seated man.
He was tempted to put his hands on her, but he did not get up.
No one wanted to be featured in a headline, no one wanted
to get caught.
She gave him a look from eyes that had seen it all and done
it all twice.
He smiled and mimicked putting tape across his mouth.
Every man has a weakness.
Event
by Patricia Deaton
after Sara Frisbee’s “Concrete Love”
Don’t hand me that. Flowers won’t do it.
And don’t tell me it will be all right.
This will NOT. EVER. BE. ALL. RIGHT.
All the party-color trappings in the world won’t make this a celebration.
I’m broken here.
The last slow dance is over.
The lights have come on.
The band is packing up.
Not even a chance for a one-night stand.
What happened to the hugs and kisses?
XOXO, love, for the record,
Happening carefree and written down.
Touching, talking, Not touching, not talking,
The X’s and O’s unfamiliar, gone wild
Like crazy confetti from hell raining down.
I’m a party of one and I’m broken.
An Invitation with Strings Attached
by Jeanne Ackley
after J.W. Baker’s painting “Black Bear”
If you are
a member of the Bear Clan,
or on a sacred journey,
follow me.
I will take you
to the Dakotas, to Bear Butte.
Follow me,
to our sacred circle.
We will gather in the Black Hills.
Follow me,
into the sweat lodge,
where our sacred ceremonies are held.
Follow me,
if your heart is in the right place.
Sacred knowledge is not for sale.
We will know if you are sincere.
Monday, February 1, 2010
What a Week
Last week was almost the best week I've ever had as a writer. I had a total of 23 poems come out in 7 different journals. First there were the poems "Absence of Animal Presence," "The Word for What Only 4-Year Olds Can See," and "After the Flood" in Joe and Chenelle Milford's new journal, Scythe, at www.scytheliteraryjournal.com.
That was followed by "Light Falls and Runs Red" in the new issue of The Pedestal at http://thepedestalmagazine.com/. Next was one poem ("Second Chances" and ("All I Want") in each of the two new issues of Waterways, in print only, but info is available at www.tenpennyplayers.org/mags.html.
One of my favorite "blog" journals, protestpoems.org, at www.protestpoems.org.blogspot.com, then published one of my favorite new poems "Letter to Ahmadinejad," and I published my own poem "Relic" alongside Joe Young's photo "Time Goes By" in Outlook and then in my blog to help promote the Aroma of Art fundraiser going on this month in Hickory. That same day Outlook also published a profile of me written by Ann Fox Chandonnet.
A couple of days ago, Jane Crown released her latest issue of Heavy Bear, at www.heavybear.janecrown.com, which contained the poems "Meat Jesus" and "Arse Poetica" and an audio file of me reading 10 of my poems, most of which will be in Paternity, due out in just a couple of weeks. And now, today, Helen Losse has released the February issue of Dead Mule, which includes three of my poems written in honor of Black History Month, "Soundings," "Primer," and "in which the poet speaks as a sixth-grade classmate."
Thank you to each of these editors and to the readers who support these journals.
So why was it just "almost" the best week I've ever had? Because my new manuscript, which I really thought was good, didn't win the contest I had sent it off to, and because like most writers, I suspect, I take the rejections more personally than I do the acceptances. I tell myself to use rejections as motivation, but they still hurt, they still cause doubt, and they still linger in my mind longer than they should. Call me sensitive. Call me insecure. Call me spoiled. Self-doubt is just a tough thing to overcome.
That was followed by "Light Falls and Runs Red" in the new issue of The Pedestal at http://thepedestalmagazine.com/. Next was one poem ("Second Chances" and ("All I Want") in each of the two new issues of Waterways, in print only, but info is available at www.tenpennyplayers.org/mags.html.
One of my favorite "blog" journals, protestpoems.org, at www.protestpoems.org.blogspot.com, then published one of my favorite new poems "Letter to Ahmadinejad," and I published my own poem "Relic" alongside Joe Young's photo "Time Goes By" in Outlook and then in my blog to help promote the Aroma of Art fundraiser going on this month in Hickory. That same day Outlook also published a profile of me written by Ann Fox Chandonnet.
A couple of days ago, Jane Crown released her latest issue of Heavy Bear, at www.heavybear.janecrown.com, which contained the poems "Meat Jesus" and "Arse Poetica" and an audio file of me reading 10 of my poems, most of which will be in Paternity, due out in just a couple of weeks. And now, today, Helen Losse has released the February issue of Dead Mule, which includes three of my poems written in honor of Black History Month, "Soundings," "Primer," and "in which the poet speaks as a sixth-grade classmate."
Thank you to each of these editors and to the readers who support these journals.
So why was it just "almost" the best week I've ever had? Because my new manuscript, which I really thought was good, didn't win the contest I had sent it off to, and because like most writers, I suspect, I take the rejections more personally than I do the acceptances. I tell myself to use rejections as motivation, but they still hurt, they still cause doubt, and they still linger in my mind longer than they should. Call me sensitive. Call me insecure. Call me spoiled. Self-doubt is just a tough thing to overcome.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Synaesthetic Joy
“Musings” for January 28, 2010
Synaesthetic Joy
Can you smell art? I don’t mean the smell of paint, wood, or graphite. That’s the smell of materials, but the materials are not exactly the art. Art is something else, something almost intangible, an image that inspires, that creates an experience in the viewer, that prompts catharsis. Surely that doesn’t have a scent. Unless, of course, you’re at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory during the month of February. Because it is then and there that the annual Aroma of Art benefit auction takes place, causing art to smell perhaps like kindness, or warmth, or at least really good coffee.
Aroma of Art is a month long auction of paintings, photography, jewelry, sculpture, etc. all created by over 100 local artists to benefit ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills Alliance) and the Catawba County Humane Society. Aroma of Art is also an opportunity for local poets to participate in an exercise known as Ekphrastic Poetry, which is simply the creation of a poem from the viewing of a work of art in a different discipline.
Writers are invited to submit poems based on the works on display in the Aroma of Art to me, Scott Owens, by noon on February 15. A jury of local poets will select as many as 20 poems to display with the pieces in the auction and to be presented to the winners of the corresponding art work during Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale on March 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Three poems will also be chosen to be read at the Grand Finale.
Poems should include the author’s name and the title and creator of the “inspiring” work of art. The phone number, and email address of the author should be on the back or on an attached sheet. Poems may be submitted at Taste Full Beans or by email to asowens1@yahoo.com. Selections will be made by the end of the day February 16.
More information on Aroma of Art can be found at www.aromaofart.blogspot.com or by calling 828-325-0108. Here is a poem based on Joe Young’s photograph “Time Goes By” (included in the auction) to serve as an example of ekphrastic poetry.
Relic
by Scott Owens
after Joe Young’s photograph Time Goes By
Time does go by
not to mention around,
through, in,
and eventually over.
Tortoise-like it plods on,
patiently waiting
for the moment we stop,
stand still too long.
Even masters of space,
speed, and distance
know of this inevitable
reclamation but remain
unprepared, unbelieving,
just the sort of thing
we think happens
only to other people.
Who, possessing
even a shred of such
power, could be anything
but incredulous,
each thing its own
Ozymandias, pride
half sunk, only
passion surviving.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Fanjoy-Labrenz Photograph Inspires Caywood Poem
Fanjoy-Labrenz Photograph Inspires Caywood Poem
Musings for February 26, 2009
For the third week in a row, this installment of “Musings” features poetry and artwork from the Aroma of Art fundraiser auction going on this month at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.
Aroma of Art is a month long silent auction whose proceeds benefit three nonprofits, ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills-area Association), Humane Society of Catawba County, and Women's Resource Center. Local artists have donated works which are on display in Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and can be bid on there. Final bid winners will be announced at Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale, slated for February 28.
In conjunction with Aroma of Art, Poetry Hickory is sponsoring an Ekphrastic Poetry Event. Area writers have produced poems based on works in the Aroma of Art display. These poems have been judged by a panel of local poets, and selected poems have been framed and are on display next to the work of art they were inspired by. The selected poems will be read by their authors at the Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Event at Taste Full Beans on February 26 and then presented to the winning bidder at the Grand Finale.
The poem below was written by Bud Caywood and inspired by the photograph, “Tree of Life,” by Fanjoy-Labrenz. This particular photo has inspired more poems for the exhibit than any other single piece. Caywood is a very popular Hickory-area poet and artist, who has published 11 books. He has also created handmade greeting cards available in the Hickory Museum of Art.
Sally Fanjoy and James Labrenz are Hickory photographic artists whose work has been shown extensively throughout the Southeast, most recently at the Hickory Museum of Art, the Wilkes Art Gallery, and the Caldwell Arts Council. They were recipients of the United Arts Council Innovative Artists' Grant and the Regional Artists' Grant.
For more information on Aroma of Art, visit the website at http://aromaofart.blogspot.com/ or call Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse at 828-325-0108. For information on the Ekphrastic Poetry Event or Poetry Hickory, contact Scott Owens at asowens1@yahoo.com or 828-234-4266.
Tree of Life
(For the photograph “Tree of Life” by Sally Fanjoy & James Labrenz)
An ashen image
In a vapor waterscape,
Leaf-shade and mirrors
This is not the first reflection.
First black and white photograph or last ekphrastic poem.
Not the first craving to find something abstract in nature.
Not just an ashen image or the photographers’ whim.
It is curiosity in space and time missing.
It is liquid gone from existence.
It is a brain-spinning breach of a time-lapsed moment.
It is cinema, sun and sky spattering the lens.
This is not the sudden landscape becoming accidental.
This is not just one photographic dimension.
Not a mirror or twin sisters.
It is looking out into a dim curtain of mist,
Obscuring what might be there below the reflection.
It is light sliced away from reality.
It is an orbit of fluid under an eye.
It is patience and perfection in the groin of earth.
It is a face into the photograph.
With eyes squinting, pupils straining,
Searching to find birth in a vapor waterscape.
This is not a picture of a tree’s own image in water.
It is more than leaf-shade and mirrors.
It is glass reshaping the illusion of something not yet finished.
It is life found in the snap-shot of a tree.
It is a seed not yet fallen.
A root not yet sprouted.
It is more like a question growing.
It is an embryo.
Musings for February 26, 2009
For the third week in a row, this installment of “Musings” features poetry and artwork from the Aroma of Art fundraiser auction going on this month at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.
Aroma of Art is a month long silent auction whose proceeds benefit three nonprofits, ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills-area Association), Humane Society of Catawba County, and Women's Resource Center. Local artists have donated works which are on display in Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and can be bid on there. Final bid winners will be announced at Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale, slated for February 28.
In conjunction with Aroma of Art, Poetry Hickory is sponsoring an Ekphrastic Poetry Event. Area writers have produced poems based on works in the Aroma of Art display. These poems have been judged by a panel of local poets, and selected poems have been framed and are on display next to the work of art they were inspired by. The selected poems will be read by their authors at the Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Event at Taste Full Beans on February 26 and then presented to the winning bidder at the Grand Finale.
The poem below was written by Bud Caywood and inspired by the photograph, “Tree of Life,” by Fanjoy-Labrenz. This particular photo has inspired more poems for the exhibit than any other single piece. Caywood is a very popular Hickory-area poet and artist, who has published 11 books. He has also created handmade greeting cards available in the Hickory Museum of Art.
Sally Fanjoy and James Labrenz are Hickory photographic artists whose work has been shown extensively throughout the Southeast, most recently at the Hickory Museum of Art, the Wilkes Art Gallery, and the Caldwell Arts Council. They were recipients of the United Arts Council Innovative Artists' Grant and the Regional Artists' Grant.
For more information on Aroma of Art, visit the website at http://aromaofart.blogspot.com/ or call Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse at 828-325-0108. For information on the Ekphrastic Poetry Event or Poetry Hickory, contact Scott Owens at asowens1@yahoo.com or 828-234-4266.
Tree of Life
(For the photograph “Tree of Life” by Sally Fanjoy & James Labrenz)
An ashen image
In a vapor waterscape,
Leaf-shade and mirrors
This is not the first reflection.
First black and white photograph or last ekphrastic poem.
Not the first craving to find something abstract in nature.
Not just an ashen image or the photographers’ whim.
It is curiosity in space and time missing.
It is liquid gone from existence.
It is a brain-spinning breach of a time-lapsed moment.
It is cinema, sun and sky spattering the lens.
This is not the sudden landscape becoming accidental.
This is not just one photographic dimension.
Not a mirror or twin sisters.
It is looking out into a dim curtain of mist,
Obscuring what might be there below the reflection.
It is light sliced away from reality.
It is an orbit of fluid under an eye.
It is patience and perfection in the groin of earth.
It is a face into the photograph.
With eyes squinting, pupils straining,
Searching to find birth in a vapor waterscape.
This is not a picture of a tree’s own image in water.
It is more than leaf-shade and mirrors.
It is glass reshaping the illusion of something not yet finished.
It is life found in the snap-shot of a tree.
It is a seed not yet fallen.
A root not yet sprouted.
It is more like a question growing.
It is an embryo.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Aroma of Art and Ann Chandonnet's "Red Lady"
Musings for February 19, 2009
Aroma of Art and Ann Chandonnet's "Red Lady"
For the second week in a row, this installment of “Musings” features poetry and artwork from the Aroma of Art fundraiser auction going on this month at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.
Aroma of Art is a month long silent auction whose proceeds benefit three nonprofits, ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills-area Association), Humane Society of Catawba County, and Women's Resource Center. Local artists have donated works which are on display in Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and can be bid on there. Final bid winners will be announced at Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale, slated for February 28.
In conjunction with Aroma of Art, Poetry Hickory is sponsoring an Ekphrastic Poetry Event. Area writers have produced poems based on works in the Aroma of Art display. These poems have been judged by a panel of local poets, and selected poems have been framed and are on display next to the work of art they were inspired by. The selected poems will be read by their authors at the Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Event at Taste Full Beans on February 26 and then presented to the winning bidder at the Grand Finale.
The poem below was written by Ann Fox Chandonnet and inspired by Brian Legore’s untitled painting of a “red lady.” Chandonnet currently lives in Vale, NC, and is the author of 7 collections of poetry as well as various cookbooks, children’s books, and travel guides. She is a frequent participant in Poetry Hickory. Legore is a local writer and artist, an Associate Member of Full Circle Arts and also a frequent participant in Poetry Hickory.
For more information on Aroma of Art, visit the website at http://aromaofart.blogspot.com/ or call Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse at 828-325-0108. For information on the Ekphrastic Poetry Event or Poetry Hickory, contact Scott Owens at asowens1@yahoo.com or 828-234-4266.
Red Lady
Lady’s red but got the blues,
got the blues.
Stares at her shoes,
cannot meet my gaze.
Red lady’s got the blues.
Her mouth opens, then shuts.
Opens, shuts.
Spit out sorrow’s poison, lady--
Lady, angry as a boil.
Spit out sorrow’s poison.
Your sad red eyes
shadow your blue cheeks;
A storm cloud
crowns your brow like blue thorns.
Red lady, blot your tears
with your red, red hair.
Spit out sorrow’s bitter poison.
There is a blue sky,
a blue sky singing
sweet--sweet as a red bird.
Can you hear it now?
Aroma of Art and Ann Chandonnet's "Red Lady"
For the second week in a row, this installment of “Musings” features poetry and artwork from the Aroma of Art fundraiser auction going on this month at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.
Aroma of Art is a month long silent auction whose proceeds benefit three nonprofits, ALFA (AIDS Leadership Foothills-area Association), Humane Society of Catawba County, and Women's Resource Center. Local artists have donated works which are on display in Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and can be bid on there. Final bid winners will be announced at Aroma of Art’s Grand Finale, slated for February 28.
In conjunction with Aroma of Art, Poetry Hickory is sponsoring an Ekphrastic Poetry Event. Area writers have produced poems based on works in the Aroma of Art display. These poems have been judged by a panel of local poets, and selected poems have been framed and are on display next to the work of art they were inspired by. The selected poems will be read by their authors at the Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Event at Taste Full Beans on February 26 and then presented to the winning bidder at the Grand Finale.
The poem below was written by Ann Fox Chandonnet and inspired by Brian Legore’s untitled painting of a “red lady.” Chandonnet currently lives in Vale, NC, and is the author of 7 collections of poetry as well as various cookbooks, children’s books, and travel guides. She is a frequent participant in Poetry Hickory. Legore is a local writer and artist, an Associate Member of Full Circle Arts and also a frequent participant in Poetry Hickory.
For more information on Aroma of Art, visit the website at http://aromaofart.blogspot.com/ or call Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse at 828-325-0108. For information on the Ekphrastic Poetry Event or Poetry Hickory, contact Scott Owens at asowens1@yahoo.com or 828-234-4266.
Red Lady
Lady’s red but got the blues,
got the blues.
Stares at her shoes,
cannot meet my gaze.
Red lady’s got the blues.
Her mouth opens, then shuts.
Opens, shuts.
Spit out sorrow’s poison, lady--
Lady, angry as a boil.
Spit out sorrow’s poison.
Your sad red eyes
shadow your blue cheeks;
A storm cloud
crowns your brow like blue thorns.
Red lady, blot your tears
with your red, red hair.
Spit out sorrow’s bitter poison.
There is a blue sky,
a blue sky singing
sweet--sweet as a red bird.
Can you hear it now?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Ekphrastic Poetry to Serve Larger Purpose
EKPHRASTIC POETRY TO SERVE LARGER PURPOSE
Ekphrasis is the graphic, and sometimes dramatic, description of a visual work of art. The word is derived from the Greek roots “ek,” meaning “out,” and “phrasis,” meaning “speak.” When combined, these roots originally referred to the calling of an inanimate object by name. Today, the term is most often used to refer to a work of art that is based on another work of art in a different media. For example, a poem about a painting would be called an ekphrastic poem. Similarly, a painting of a sculpture would be considered ekphrastic.
The practice of ekphrastic work is a common exercise in all arts today. Think of the number of films you’ve seen that are “based” on novels, or the number of paintings that refer to specific characters or scenes from literature. In the past year in Hickory, Lenoir Rhyne University, Full Circle Arts, and Poetry Hickory have all been involved in ekphrastic poetry projects, where poets have been invited to compose works based on painting and photography exhibits.
Now, for the second year, Aroma of Art (AOA) is including an ekphrastic poetry event as part of their 8th annual benefit art auction. Aroma of Art is an important annual fundraiser for AIDS Leadership Foothills area Alliance (ALFA), the Humane Society of Catawba County, and the Women’s Resource Center. Donated works of art will be displayed at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse during the month of February, and silent bids on the pieces will be accepted throughout the month. Winning bids will be announced at the AOA Grand Finale, February 28.
This year, poets are invited to view the works of art at Taste Full Beans, starting February 1, and write their own original pieces inspired by the work they see. Approximately 20-25 poems will be selected, framed, put on display with the work of art they were inspired by, read by the poet at a special pre-finale event on February 26, and finally, given to the person who places the highest bid on the subject work of art.
Poets interested in submitting their work can email their poems to me at asowens1@yahoo.com or drop off their work at Taste Full Beans. Deadline for submission is noon, February 17. A panel of judges will determine the poems that will be included in the display and the reading. Submissions should include the poet’s name, the name of the work of art the poem is based on, and the name of the artist.
Printed below is one of the poems included in last year’s Poetry Hickory / Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Event. The poem has subsequently been published in the journal Pirene’s Fountain:
The Persistence of Field by Scott Owens
after Carl Moser’s photograph “Raking Hay”
This field goes on in time,
wrapping around mountain, years, generations.
What are two men against a mountain,
to plow it, sow it, lay it straight,
maintain fenceline and productivity?
He has worn this hat every summer
for thirty years, flattening fields
he claims as his own,
but even as he fights the horses
to keep them in line, knock down
a season’s worth of weeds,
even as he grips the reins
and guides the blade,
he can’t help but notice
white breath of queen-anne’s lace,
orange fire of asclepias tuberosa.
For more information on Aroma of Art please call Taste Full Beans staff at 325-0108.
Ekphrasis is the graphic, and sometimes dramatic, description of a visual work of art. The word is derived from the Greek roots “ek,” meaning “out,” and “phrasis,” meaning “speak.” When combined, these roots originally referred to the calling of an inanimate object by name. Today, the term is most often used to refer to a work of art that is based on another work of art in a different media. For example, a poem about a painting would be called an ekphrastic poem. Similarly, a painting of a sculpture would be considered ekphrastic.
The practice of ekphrastic work is a common exercise in all arts today. Think of the number of films you’ve seen that are “based” on novels, or the number of paintings that refer to specific characters or scenes from literature. In the past year in Hickory, Lenoir Rhyne University, Full Circle Arts, and Poetry Hickory have all been involved in ekphrastic poetry projects, where poets have been invited to compose works based on painting and photography exhibits.
Now, for the second year, Aroma of Art (AOA) is including an ekphrastic poetry event as part of their 8th annual benefit art auction. Aroma of Art is an important annual fundraiser for AIDS Leadership Foothills area Alliance (ALFA), the Humane Society of Catawba County, and the Women’s Resource Center. Donated works of art will be displayed at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse during the month of February, and silent bids on the pieces will be accepted throughout the month. Winning bids will be announced at the AOA Grand Finale, February 28.
This year, poets are invited to view the works of art at Taste Full Beans, starting February 1, and write their own original pieces inspired by the work they see. Approximately 20-25 poems will be selected, framed, put on display with the work of art they were inspired by, read by the poet at a special pre-finale event on February 26, and finally, given to the person who places the highest bid on the subject work of art.
Poets interested in submitting their work can email their poems to me at asowens1@yahoo.com or drop off their work at Taste Full Beans. Deadline for submission is noon, February 17. A panel of judges will determine the poems that will be included in the display and the reading. Submissions should include the poet’s name, the name of the work of art the poem is based on, and the name of the artist.
Printed below is one of the poems included in last year’s Poetry Hickory / Aroma of Art Ekphrastic Poetry Event. The poem has subsequently been published in the journal Pirene’s Fountain:
The Persistence of Field by Scott Owens
after Carl Moser’s photograph “Raking Hay”
This field goes on in time,
wrapping around mountain, years, generations.
What are two men against a mountain,
to plow it, sow it, lay it straight,
maintain fenceline and productivity?
He has worn this hat every summer
for thirty years, flattening fields
he claims as his own,
but even as he fights the horses
to keep them in line, knock down
a season’s worth of weeds,
even as he grips the reins
and guides the blade,
he can’t help but notice
white breath of queen-anne’s lace,
orange fire of asclepias tuberosa.
For more information on Aroma of Art please call Taste Full Beans staff at 325-0108.
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