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

Doug McHargue's "Unseen Kites" after Owen-Murakami and Van Ameyden

Doug McHargue photographed at Caldwell Arts Council on June 9, 2018 for the first Art of Poetry Catawba Valley tour of 2018. 

UNSEEN KITES

by Doug McHargue

After Ginger Owen-Murakami and Vicki Van Ameyden

My feet glued to ground,

it's hard to think

I've ever floated

in this life,

not so hard to see

the girl, innocent

smile, angel pure dress

flying.

Or the group of kids

laughter levitating

story book minds

above too-small rooms,

yelling people, too big.

But it's really hard

to see the old man

with the set mouth

who's sat too long

for the photo,

just wants to change

to overalls,

get this over with, dammit -

how he slogs through

flooded fields and swamps,

gossamer, light like ghost birds

at his back,

the mouth one day released.

Gena Williams's "All Dressed Up" after Sharon McCullough

Gena Williams photographed at Caldwell Arts Council on June 9, 2018 sharing her work beside Sharon McCullough's whimsical piece, All Dressed Up.

ALL DRESSED UP 

by Gena Williams

after Sharon McCullough’s All Dressed Up

I see you standing there,

All dressed up.

Tall and statuesque,

Your self-control amazing.

Your thoughts a mystery,

But your composure undeniable.

A woman to be seen and never heard.

Many a man would love to have

A woman like you.

Did you choose this life of silence,

Of paralysis and steel?

Do thoughts of freedom run through

That pretty little head?

If you could, would you jump down

And run far away?

At night, when no one’s looking,

Do you dance?

Brenda Smith's "Summer, Fall, Swaying, Bending" after Alix Hitchcock

Brenda Smith photographed at Caldwell Arts Council in front of one of the four Alix Hitchcock pieces that inspired her poem for Art of Poetry Catawba Valley's inaugural tour on June 9, 2018.

SUMMER, FALL, SWAYING, BENDING 

by Brenda Smith           

On four prints of the same titles by Alix Hitchcock 

As the bird flies so do I fly

I know I am tethered to the earth

She is not

I know this

But I fly all the same

In my twisted way, I fly

I was in a leap

in mid-flight as I was caught

made into wallpaper

as was the bird

run over by the printer’s tool

We in flight

I was in mid flight

when fall came too

with its stripping of branches

limbs white and barren

my flight pressed to the earth too

my limbs hitting the earth

We falling

I, caught by the thin white wind

am bent backwards

Trees as tall as mountains with me

bent back, shot through the air

My friend curves low

out of wind’s reach

She, and the wall of greenness

are below the wind

Beyond the wind

Golden wind with brains and guts

makes a corridor through the darkness

pulls me up by my core

limbs bowed downward

Gravity still rules

the paper bamboo sways

with the heart and bone

Rhythm of the wind