Picture of the Week #5

This is supposed to be red, but the color was lost in translation. This was a birthday card for my younger brother, Jack, who spent time in China. I used the Chinese Zodiac for the pictures. I also attempted to use Chinese hieroglyphics for the message. I attempted to say Happy Birthday little brother rooster, love big sister horse. My Chinese was from the Internet, though and made no sense at all, so I removed it and just left the cheesy horse and rooster.

Poem of the Week #5

I'm not going to explain this one, so there.


Ear to Mouth

Let me try
ear to mouth
respiration

Mouth is dry

Ear is full
of secrets
never told

Never tells
what lip reveals
or sells

Lips are sealed

To dying ear
mouth is dry
let me try

October 2007

Picture of the Week #4

I'm trying to catch up on my pictures. This is my jeweled dancer, I was taking a watercolor class at the same time I was taking History of Dance. I had just learned about Ruth St. Denis and her explorations into Indian and other Eastern dances that were a prelude to the Western world's beginning of modern dance. Anyway, I was thinking about that when I sketched this in my watercolor book.

Drawing of the Week #3

I realize I'm behind in the picture department. This one is really old, a watercolor wash from high school. I'm sure I copied it from a magazine. I had no interest in fishermen in high school.

Poem of the Week #4

I wrote this poem shortly after my mission, it was actually a very prolific time for me. I sometimes wrote three or four poems a day. Anyway, this one is about my wonderful/horrible early teen years where I had the desire/need to separate myself from/fit in with the kids around me. Ah, memories.

White-Hot Flame

I wore a white dress
when I was thirteen
and claimed the one sunny seat
in my Sunday school class.
My dress of morning light.
A white-hot flame
cannot be ignored.
A blinding flash,
not easy to avoid.
Not teacher,
nor classmates,
nor self
could miss my presence.
The age old cry
"A place in the sun,"
I well remember,
for I had one.

May 2002

Drawing of the Week #2

This is another example of my Ricks College classwork. This one was an exercise in reductive drawing in 1999. We tore masking tape pieces in half, long ways, then taped the edges of the heavy coldpress paper to acheive the jagged edge. Then we ground up charcoal and rubbed it into the paper for awhile to get good coverage. Then we drew the pictures by erasing out the lighted areas and exposing the white paper.

The poor model was dressed in a clown outfit with a Martha Washington cap. I didn't particularly want anything of the kind in my portfolio so I found an angle that looked pensive rather than akward and I cropped in to not include the stupid clothes. I sprayed this small drawing with fixative several times, but it still loses charcoal powder when moved or stored.

Poem of the Week #3

This poem dates back to high school. I loved English, but hated writing essays of any kind. Essays terrified me for years, actually. I didn't get over it until my second year of college. Anyway, in my senior English class we were given the assignment to pick a character from Hamlet and write for ten minutes from their point of view. Usually, this would have frozen me solid and blocked all connection from brain to hand, but not this time. My mind jumped to the most sympathetic character, Ophelia. She was young, she was in love, she honored her father, she was surrounded by tragedy and craziness, and then she went mad and drowned. Her life was perhaps merely a ploy to move along a tragic plot, but I found her interesting. So instead of writing a plot synopsis from her point of view, I wrote a poem. One really can do anything when writing from the point of view of a crazy person, it was very liberating.

Ophelia's Point of View

Sunshine sings through rainy days
and sorrow sings through me.
My father is dead, he often said-
his death I would someday see--

A columbine twisted round my arm
and ten minutes discourse did we hold.

Hamlet, what happened? Did the sea
swallow you like your absence
swallowed me?

The flowers said good bye--
my brother they did miss--
until my heart withered dry to die--
and the flowers gave him a kiss.

No! How? Why?

Can't you hear the castle door?
It sings with squeaky song--
until some lad burns up the moor--
the castle won't stand for long.

April 1996

Drawing of the Week #1

This is a pen and ink drawing that dates back to my Ricks College days, oh either 1998 or 1999, I really don't recall. The girl was a model for my drawing class. The drawing was done in black ink, but I changed the color on photoshop. I have a thing for red right now.

Poem of the Week #2

I wrote this one the same day as Poetry Schmoetry. I was feeling restless and trapped at my desk; just the thing to bring about either poetry or inward howling.

Cause of Death

The coroners stand over her,
notebooks in hand.
They put on their latex gloves
and examine the body closely.
Cause of death:
Boredom.

See the brain tissue
leaking out her ears,
and filmy eyes,
the mushy, unused heart.
Yes, boredom,
and wasted gifts
and wasted life.

June 2006