Odd Bits from a Creative Life (MAY ’15 ed.)

Tags

#FairyTaleFriday, Amy Stewart, call for guest posts, Deep South Magazine, El Zarape Press, Flower Patch mystery, Grand Avenue, Greg Sarris, Louise Gluck, LSU Press, Meadowlands, Mouthfeel Press, Odd Bits of a Creative Life, paintings, paper-cuts, southern lit, The Washington Project, Watermelon Nights, Wicked Plants, works in progress

So, friends, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one these.  Let me just dive right on in:

READING

 

 

 

 

 

 

I happened across Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities while flipping channels between educational shows one weekend.  Even though I am not an avid gardener or especially interested in plants, I rushed to the library for a copy.  And I have to say that it has been a really exciting read. Caught my mother making notes from it for the next Flower Patch mystery.

Also came across Louise Gluck’s Meadowlands at a used bookstore. Reading the books back-to-back before writing has produced some interesting poems, including one about Peter Peter Pumpkin-Eater and another about cesium poisoning in the Arctic via contaminated lichen.

Won several of the Big Poetry Book giveways from last month as well as one from Deep South Magazine. Haven’t got to all of those titles just yet. By the way, Deep South has great Literary Friday round-ups  for those who are into Southern Lit.

WRITING

Besides the giveaway books, with review copies I am literally swimming in poetry. But since my philosophy is that you can never have too much poetry, I am all smiles.

If you are a fan of my Sabotage round-ups, you’ll see reviews soon for titles from El Zarape Press, Mouthfeel Press and LSU Press.  I won’t spoil the fun by revealing the specifics just yet.

On the submission front, tidy batches of poems have gone out to several journals, and I’m hoping to have some publication news on the chapbook(s) soon.  Since it is now Short Story Month, I have been busily revising some of my short stories, including a dark fairy tale set in Cajun country that required some extra care in keeping the patois authentic.

Before the end of the month, I plan to get to Greg Sarris’ Grand Avenue: A Novel in Stories  which I hope is as good as Watermelon Nights.  I’ll try to post something on the blog when I’ve had time to digest.

On my other blog, I finally released the (Christian, character-focused) high school American history curriculum that I authored.  And despite my fiction writing group falling apart, I have managed to add some new scenes to my novel-in-progress. More on this later.

Have just discovered the #FairyTaleFriday challenge on Twitter.  This looks like it would be fun.  Too late to start on the ‘tremor’ theme for today, but I hope to contribute something next week if time allows.

ART

Despite all this writing, I have not given up on art. Below are a few of my newest paintings. Pardon the terrible lighting! I usually wrangle my little brother into taking the photos.  This is what you get when I do it myself.  The colors are much more vibrant in person, trust me.

I have also nearly completed my paper-cuts series. The latest bunch incorporates fairytale themes and uses a pastel palette.  Since most of the earlier works are out at journals and zines (and I hope to submit the latest round), you’ll have to wait for a sample.

 

 

 

 

Well, that pretty much does it for now.

If you’d like to contribute a GUEST POST on your creative life, please drop me a line at bonesparkblog@yahoo.com.

POETRY LAB: Dark Subjects Made Bright

Tags

Amelia's Magazine, Barbie, Colossal, Cristian Grossi, dark things made bright, Denise Duhamel, Diane Lockward, dVerse Poet's pub, Elsa Mora, fusion of opposites poem, Hello Kitty, Hollie Cook, Kittenchops, list poems, Look Listen Write, Michael Jackson, My Work, papercut art, Paw Powers Activate, poetry lab, poetry writing workshop, pop culture, Postman, Samuel Peralta, Sandra Faulkner, Slave to the Rhythm, The Crafty Poet, Things Every Woman Should Have In Her Closet, women's magazines, women's poetry, works in progress, Yulia Brodskaya

As my creative forces are converging on poetry once again,  I’m actually trying out a technique used in middle school workshops called “Look, Listen, Write“, but with a twist from Diane Lockward’s The Crafty Poet and a side of Samuel Peralta’s dverse Poet’s Pub blog.

In TCP, Diane presents an exercise called “The Fusion of Opposites Poem” (p. 163) that asks one to construct a scene based on lines built on opposites, such as quiet/noisy, hot/cold, bright/dark. She encourages working towards a prose poem, but I wanted to play with list poems as in Peralta’s forms exercise (linked above).

 

 

Also, I wanted to take something poppish (pop culture-based) and pair it with deeper issues facing women more like Duhamel’s Barbie poems or Sandra Faulkner’s Hello Kitty series.

Applying the middle school workshop model:

LOOKING

I pulled artwork from Colossal, Amelia’s Magazine and KittenChops that had women and this dark vs. bright theme…..

Cristian Grossi

Cristian Grossi

Cristian Grossi

Yulia Brodskaya

Yulia Brodskaya

Elsa Mora

Elsa Mora

Seattle Children’s Surgery mural by KittenChops

Paw Powers Activate–Kittenchops

Kittenchops

**Additional portfolio images here: Elsa, Yulia, Cristianand Zaara aka Kittenchops

and paired it with….

LISTENING

to various combinations of these (2) tracks,  which both layer pop music over deeper cultural issues facing women  [*funny how they give such different ‘feels’ to the art]

 

 

then after this immersion, which should take some quality percolating time…

WRITING

I borrowed headlines from some popular women’s magazines–doozies of higher-thinking like: “Perpetual Boyfriend Disappointments Diary” and “Things Every Woman Should Have in Her Closet”  and ran with it.

Here’s one of the Works-In-Progress from the second tag…..

 

THINGS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE IN HER CLOSET

 

an ill-fitting skeleton

shit-kicking boots stained with bad blood

a roadmap for sacrifices to whatever curtained god you are

currently worshipping

pinking shears for prettying-up broken hearts

nestled beside nuts& bolts & odd bits of timekeeping devices that

shook free of time

failures with exes napping with cats in neatly boxed rows (you know

for rehabilitation)

90’s haircuts sandwiched between diet books so you won’t go there

again (don’t   go   there  again)

dispatches to future selves that sting like papercuts  waiting

waiting with their metallic arms

pinned

—–C.A. LaRue

 

 

Feel like it’s at least a line short in there somewhere, but that’s why its called  W-I-P.   Please feel free to share what you come up with in the comments section or by emailing bonesparkblog@yahoo.com if you’d like to do your own guest post.

Peace out, poetry peeps!!!