Sunday, February 2, 2020

Melissa Hager's "Love Is" after Sarah Jayne Kennedy






LOVE IS... 
by Melissa Hager
after Two of Us by Sarah Jayne Kennedy


Drawing a line in the sand
to judge who's in, who's out,
often finds love gazing 
from the other side.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Beverly Finney's "Me! Me! I Will!" after Northview Middle School Art Students


What better way to begin a new year revolving around the sun than with the positive calls to the future in Beverly Finney's poem. She was inspired by North View Middle School's 6th grade artists who exhibited for FOUND - Art of Community at Alexander County Library in summer 2019. The student's instructor, Chris Parsons, exhibited at the library in the fall of 2019. 


ME! ME! I WILL!
by Beverly Finney
after Different and Yet the Same
by Northview Middle School
6th Grade Students
with instructor, Chris Parsons

And who among you, my children,
will step up to change the world,
make of it a better place
than we left it to you?
You, Thomas? Nalaysia?
And you, eye-in-your-palm, with help
from cool/energetic/funny/tall?
What about you, Addison R.,
who might be a Capricorn like me?
And Jacob, the Bojangles/soccer fan?
And gentle kind-helpful-smart,
Mahni-Inside, lacrosse/football/tennis
and mi familia with Kermit the frog?
Will you step up, too, nice-creative-gamer?
I see you are full of possibilities, dreams,
an imaginative colorful rush of spirit.
This beautiful Earth, its rainbow people,
and creatures—flying, crawling, leaping—
look to you to clean up the chaos
of those before you, restore compassion,
sharing, the celebration of different/same.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Beverly Finney's "Solitude" after Laura Crooks





Beverly Finney reads her poem inspired by a photograph taken by library director, Laura Crooks, at the tour of Alexander County Library on July 13, 2019.


SOLITUDE
by Beverly Finney
after One for Solitude by Laura Crooks

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
—May Sarton, Belgian-born American poet (1912-1995)

Take me to the place where things grow wild,
where brambles are bejeweled with berries,
vines hang with sapphires of muscadines.
Drop me off at the edge of the woods
where the stalwart poplars rise and the oaks,
wearing skirts of dogwood in spring.
Part ways with me near the rolling pasture
in which cows with languid brown eyes graze,
so I can follow them to the shaded winding creek.
In such uninhabited environs where the air
is sweet and the summer rain falls freely,
I will find what rests in the seed of my soul.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Betty O'Hearn's "Homes of Crayons" after Diane Podolsky


Art of Poetry Catawba Valley's Patricia Deaton reads the poem by Betty O'Hearn at the tour of Alexander County Library on July 13, 2019. The FOUND - Art of Community exhibit was curated by library board trustee chair, Miranda Burgin.


HOMES OF CRAYONS
by Betty O’Hearn
after The Neighborhood by Diane Podolsky


I grew up on a street of colored homes.
Each had a personality.
Inside the home was special.
Mother taught us to love on our neighbors.

Our neighbors were all pale until I was sixteen.
The colors of the homes outside were the same.
Inside the homes became colorful.
Some of our neighbors left.
They preferred only pale neighbors.

Mother taught us that God loved us all.
People were just different ‘crayons’ .
My personal preference is different colors.
My granddaughters grew up among crayons
of brown, black, yellow and white.

Love your neighbor as thyself.


Monday, November 4, 2019

Melissa Hager's "Reverie" after Cheyenne Chumley

The photograph by Cheyenne Chumley that inspired Melissa Hager's poem for the Art of Poetry Catawba Valley tour of Alexander County Library. 

REVERIE
by Melissa Hager
after Home by Cheyenne Chumley

"I wish you had a dishwasher,"
my mother chimes
as we stare at the mound of dishes,
relics from our luncheon.

"I don't mind," I tell her
and I don't, as I later stand
lovingly washing every plate,
each wine glass and fork.

Smile at the memories made
over pork barbecue, heavenly
beans, coconut rum soaked
ice cream with salted caramel.

I remember Dad's smug grin
seizing a round of tumbling dice,
daughter's gloat as she rolls
over three grand,

Mom's comically dejected
face of Farkle
as she forfeits a straight
to a die gone bad.

Grapefruit powered dish detergent
scrapes away sauciness, adds
to my heightened senses.
A quiet revisit of the day in soapy hands.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Doug McHargue's "Safe Shells" after Diane Podolsky



Doug McHargue photographed at Alexander County Library on July 13, 2019 at the FOUND - Art of Community exhibit tour. 


SAFE SHELLS
by Doug McHargue
after Little Pink Houses by Diane Podolsky

My mind now a gray film,
but I see the houses in pink,
boxy and square as the fifties
holding tight to things but the color
of Easter hats Jackie made famous,
pillboxes for our heads filled
with sedate dreams we thought
she'd have, and my A-line dress
pink, too, the color of a house
on the beach where you search
for shells and if lucky
find something big,
almost regal with curves
and flourishes, and you think
as long as the creature stays
deep in that pink,
safe myths live.

Monday, September 30, 2019

Beverly Finney's "Quest" after Shauna Caldwell


Beverly Finney reads her poem inspired by the Shauna Caldwell photograph exhibited in the FOUND - Art of Community collection at Alexander County Library. Art of Poetry Catawba Valley toured the library on July 13, 2019.

QUEST
by Beverly Finney
after Goldenrod by Shauna Caldwell

Already, I am missing you too much,
regretting what I can’t retrieve.
What I have, besides, are hazy memories
of laughter, shared heartaches, comfort.


Now, I am a beggar wishing
for a winged horse I could ride
into the deep hereafter
in search of hours carelessly lost,
strike some bargain to retrieve them.
In its place, I shall climb to the stars
in the dark, looking for the tall stalk
of fire you have become, ethereal,
now too perfect for this day-to-day world.

In memory of Betty Jean Farthing Hughes


Melissa Hager's "Love Is" after Sarah Jayne Kennedy

LOVE IS...  by Melissa Hager after Two of Us by Sarah Jayne Kennedy Drawing a line in the sand to judge who's i...