Submission Deadline Approaches for HMA Tour, Melissa Hager's "Mmmm Hmmmm" after Susan Greene

Saturday, September 29 is the final day submissions will be accepted for Art of Poetry Catawba Valley's tour of Hickory Museum of Art. The tour on October 13 begins at 2 pm and will explore Blow Up, Dear Paul Letters, Sugar & Spice, POP: Everyday Imagery As Art, and ongoing glass and folk art exhibits. 

For submission guidelines, visit the link at 
https://artofpoetrycv.blogspot.com/2018/08/art-of-poetry-catawba-valley-announces.html

Last week's featured poem was about Susan Greene's photographic collage Mourning Wrap - and so too is this week's piece by Melissa Hager. 

MMMM HMMMM

by Melissa Hager

after Susan Greene’s Mourning Wrap

Frogs - symbol of our home,

potteried amphibians, leapers

with tinkly bells to welcome

the visitor. Harlequin ribbiter

sits atop chimes to warn of high

winds, soothe with calm breezes

as a tadpole plant holder

metamorphoses;

now smokes butt ends

of son’s Marlboro Reds.

Olive frogs, red frogs, crystal

frogs a courtin’ upon broken

Christmas tree bough.

Frog with feathers, a fishing pole,

and failure - as one lay in pieces

upon ceramic tile floor.

Patricia Deaton's "A Day in the Land of Lethargia" after Susan Greene

Patricia Deaton photographed at Art of Poetry Catawba Valley's tour of Caldwell Arts Council - June 9, 2018. 

A DAY IN THE LAND OF LETHARGIA

by Patricia Deaton

after Mourning Wrap by Susan Greene

Every hour finds you unaccounted for, alone

Light outside is freshly-made, but you don't look.

Problems brim like dew drops on bottom lids

Limbs feel wooden and put together with pins.

You are sleepy or hungry, or both.

The bed is your conjoined twin who

can't live without its crumb-covered friend.

Undone things of yesterday, nothing done today.

Resolve as flat as matted hair and tangled sheets

dusk offers some relief from daylight's needs.

Night comes with its permission, once again

to lie in darkness, unwashed and guilt-free.

As one of  AOPCV's coordinators, Patricia invites poets to participate in the next event on October 13 at Hickory Museum of Art. Details can be found at: 
https://artofpoetrycv.blogspot.com/2018/08/art-of-poetry-catawba-valley-announces.html

Jane Shlensky's "Courtship" after Alix Hitchcock

Caldwell Arts Council executive director, Lindsay Barrick, shares the poem by Jane Shlensky at Art of Poetry Catawba Valley's first tour on June 9, 2018 in Lenoir, NC. 

COURTSHIP 

by Jane Shlensky
after Alix Hitchcock’s Two Cranes

He stands gawking among marsh plants in shade.
She wades along the shore in streaks of light,
golden beams gilding cat tails and marsh grass,
giving him the illusion of a towering headdress
and her the fancy feathers of autumn sumac.
They cannot avert their eyes from one another,
so splendid are they at this angle of vision.

So mates of every species meet in gradations
of day and night, sun and shade,
each in a different world, dazzled
by kindred otherness as organic as a tree limb
downed and shimmering beneath the water, each
seeing precisely what light and imagination allows.

******************************************************

Submissions are currently being accepted for our tour of Hickory Museum of Art on October 13, 2018. Details can be found at this link: 

AOPCV Details

Betty O'Hearn's "Quick Walk" after Susan Greene

Poet Beverly Finney photographed as she reads Betty O'Hearn's poem in front of the inspiring Susan Greene collage. Art of Poetry Catawba Valley toured the exhibit at Caldwell Arts Council on June 9, 2018.

QUICK WALK 

by Betty O’Hearn

After Edge by Susan Greene

The sun was shining dusting the top of the

water with light and shadows.

I had to go up to take a walk on the terra cotta stone.

My walks are quick.  It is dangerous to go up but

I live on the edge. 

It is courting season and I am exhausted.

Holding yourself vertical all day makes you wish

you could be like other sea creatures and

swim horizontal. 

I should be grateful.  People like us, as we are

an oddity.  I know horses above don’t have as

much fun as we do.

Oops. Someone is walking down.  I better jump

back to where it is safe.  And…  off I go, back

to the sea. 

That was fun!

Thanks, Betty, for your contribution! She, along with Kelly DeMaegd and Mel Hager, coordinated Art of Poetry through Hickory Museum of Art.  Please consider contributing to AOPCV when we return to Hickory Museum of Art for a tour October 13, 2018. Full details can be found at this link: - https://artofpoetrycv.blogspot.com/2018/08/art-of-poetry-catawba-valley-announces.html

We hope to see you and/or your poetry October 13!

Art of Poetry Catawba Valley

Melissa Hager and Patricia Deaton