In Memory of Paul Farmer

 In Memory of Dr. Paul Farmer as shared by Dr. Sriram Shamasunder in a beautiful post on npr. I find writing out poetry to be a challenge. Presenting the words with the poet's line breaks often makes for a less interesting composition. In this case I ignored them. I think I've made it harder to read. I see that as a good thing. More time to slow down and savor the words.

In Memory of Lawrence Ferlinghetti

 I wrote these closing lines from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "I Am Waiting" which was in the book A Coney Island of the Mind which I first read in high school. Ferlinghetti, founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, died on February 22, 2021 at 101 years of age.

I did the lettering with Calligraphica Crystals and a Silverado brush on pineapple leaf paper of unknown origin from my paper drawer.

Bookmaking Poem Project

I recently posted another project from my Keepsake Books series of videos on youtube. You'll learn how to make a simple book for a favorite poem or song. All you need are two sheets of paper, ribbon, yarn, or string, a hole punch, a pair of scissors, and a paper clip. I chose the poem "Praying" by Mary Oliver from her book Thirst.

Click here to view on Youtube

https://bit.ly/3dlY5RM

Poetry Month

Forty Years #14: Poetry of Paul Marion

The first texts I worked with by a contemporary writer were the poems of Paul Marion. I met Paul at the same art festival in the Lowell Memorial Auditorium where I met the people who were forming Art Alive! He read his poetry and I soon after asked him for permission to write out his poems. I exhibited them at the National Park Service across the street from Art Alive! on Merrimack Street. Salmon Ladders was one of the poems from the exhibit.

I later exhibited my renderings of Paul's poems at the Whistler House,

Lowell City Hall,

and recently as part of New England Haiku at the Masscribes exhibit at the Moseley Courthouse in Boston.

We also did a book project, South Common Haiku, and I hope there may be another one in our future.

Studio Sunday-Poetry Presentations

A recent project was two presentation pieces for the founders of Tapestry of Voices, poets celebrating the poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier with readings from his work and their own, to celebrate the twentieth year of the program at the Whittier Home in Amesbury, MA. I had always wanted to do a presentation piece that contained a quote as part of it which turned out to be a design challenge. I wanted to differentiate the quote from the presentation. I tried varying the size and the style of writing but wasn't pleased with either.

I had recently purchased 6" rounds of handmade paper from India at Artist & Craftsman in Saugus. I had used a couple for birthday cards and thought of using them for the quote. 

I liked the way the paper round gave a separate space for the quote but still allowed for the presentation information. 

One had a quote from Kahlil Gibran

and one a quote from Carl Sandburg.

Poetry Month-Deep in the weave by Paul Marion

I exhibited this at the Whistler House Gallery in Lowell in a show with stained glass artist Karen Bingley in the early '80s. I drew the weaved pattern with a technical pen. In those days I signed my work with a swan with a quill.

Poetry Month-Winter Hawk by Paul Marion

I did "Winter Hawk" sometime in the early '80s. The photo is terrible but I always liked this one. I was quite a fan of sweeping descenders.

Poetry Month-Salmon Ladders by Paul Marion

"Salmon Ladders" was one of the earliest pieces I did of Paul's poems, probably in 1979. I think I was still primarily using an Osmiroid cartridge pen. The lettering was reasonably even and well-shaped but I hadn't managed to invest any personality in it yet.

Poetry Month-Union River by Paul Marion

Bootstrap Press has just published Union River, a collection of writing spanning over 40 years by my friend Paul Marion. Poet Kate Hanson Foster has written an insightful review on the Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene blog. Do check it out.

Paul and I have been friends since the late '70s and fellow travelers in the worlds of books, words, art, and Lowell. We collaborated on South Common Haiku and hope to find another project to do together. Here's a calligraphed version of his poem Green Windows. I'll be sharing examples of his poems with my calligraphy for the next few days. The writing was done with gouache and pen and the hands with acrylic.

The book is available here.

Poetry Month-April

Chaucer and Eliot for April. This is an oldie from 1981. I believe I used Dr. Martin's watercolor. Definitely Dr. Martin's something.

Poetry Month-William Carlos Williams

Studio Sunday is on vacation for the month of April and is replaced by posts for Poetry Month, mostly on Sunday. I recently visited the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard with members of the Ticknor Society, a delightful Boston-based organization which describes itself as "a fellowship of book lovers."

During a presentation by Christina Davis, Curator, and Mary Walker Graham, Assistant Curator, we heard a recording of William Carlos Williams' opening remarks for his Morris Gray Poetry Reading on December 4, 1951. You can hear them in The Listening Booth on the Woodberry website. You'll find lots more great poetry to listen to there.

Emily Dickinson and Gardens from Gigi Thibodeau

A few weeks ago the PowWow Rover Poets presented a program in Newburyport on Emily Dickinson's poetry and gardens. Unfortunately I was only there for the tail end and missed Gigi Thibodeau's moving talk, Of Words and Wings an Other Sacred Ordinary Things. She generously shared it on her blog, The Magpie's Fancy, along with some of her photographs. I highly recommend checking it out.

In her talk, she referred to the poem:

“The pedigree of honey
Does not concern the Bee—
A clover anytime to Him
Is aristocracy.”

which led me to my folder of photos of old calligraphy and this:

I'm not sure how clear it is in the photo but the paper contains a large watermark of a beehive. I found a few more in one of my paper drawers and look forward to seeing what the poem will look like when I do it again.

Studio Sunday-How Things Start

I lettered "Take joy!" on a deep blue vase for my friend Anne after she was outbid for a similar one at Books in Bloom at the Newburyport Public Library a few years ago. She wrote a haiku and drew the vase with marigolds as part of her daily practice and sent it to me in a card. I have been working on the idea of a workshop for poets—Simple Bookmaking for Short Poems and Small Editions or alternatively Poetry With a Personal Touch: Keepsake Books to Make and Share—and planned on working with Anne to make a small book of her haiku. After she dropped off a little arrangement of marigolds, I was inspired to letter the words and begin thinking about the layout. I'm looking forward to seeing how it takes shape. 

Blog Giveaway Results

Thanks to all for the comments. The winner of the Neruda quote giveaway is Jacqueline from New Brunswick, Canada. I want to share two things from Neruda, a quote and a poem, that were shared.

From Leanne:

To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life.


From Ocean:

Ode to the Sea

HERE
Surrounding the island
There's sea.
But what sea?
It's always overflowing.
Says yes,
Then no,
Then no again,
And no,
Says yes
In blue
In sea spray
Raging,
Says no
And no again.
It can't be still.
It stammers
My name is sea.


It slaps the rocks
And when they aren't convinced,
Strokes them
And soaks them
And smothers them with kisses.
With seven green tongues
Of seven green dogs
Or seven green tigers
Or seven green seas,
Beating its chest,
Stammering its name,


Oh Sea,
This is your name.
Oh comrade ocean,
Don't waste time
Or water
Getting so upset
Help us instead.
We are meager fishermen,
Men from the shore
Who are hungry and cold
And you're our foe.
Don't beat so hard,
Don't shout so loud,
Open your green coffers,
Place gifts of silver in our hands.
Give us this day
our daily fish.

Book Arts Tuesday-Magic Things

This little book was quickly constructed in Mike Gold's Contemporary Scripts workshop. A page I did with lettering with colored inks didn't seem worth saving as is so I did a series of folds and smooshes to make the pattern on the page. I then folded and tore it into a 16 page meander book. I added the quote from William Butler Yeats with a Pentel color brush. I'll be posting more about Mike's ways of encouraging us to play with the letters. Here I altered the width of the letters and the spacing in between.

Flower a Day for May-Lilac

An excerpt from Lilacs by Amy Lowell:

May is lilac here in New England,
May is a thrush singing “Sun up!” on a tip-top ash tree,
May is white clouds behind pine-trees
Puffed out and marching upon a blue sky.
May is a green as no other,
May is much sun through small leaves,
May is soft earth,
And apple-blossoms,
And windows open to a South Wind.
May is full light wind of lilac
From Canada to Narragansett Bay.

You can read the entire poem at the Poetry Foundation website.

Book Arts Tuesday-Emily Dickinson's Herbarium

To start Poetry Month, here is a link to the digitized version of the Herbarium that Emily Dickinson made circa 1839-1846. The original is in the Houghton Library at Harvard University. Here's more about the Dickinson collection at Harvard. And here is a post on Poetry.org by Judith Farr, who wrote the excellent book, The Gardens of Emily Dickinson.

You can view The Wondrous Nearer Drew, my "collaboration" with the words of Emily Dickinson here.

Second Day of Christmas

In 1982 my friend Paul Marion wrote a poem that I later made into a card for him. I was reminded of it by an article by John Collins in the Lowell Sun about the painting Bill Giavis did that was inspired by the poem and was donated to the Town Hall in Dracut where Paul grew up.

Thirty-one years ago, the sight of an orange Lowell dumptruck ferrying the city's Nativity scene characters inspired poet Paul Marion to write "A Hundred Nights of Winter." Now, a painting inspired by Marion's poem, painted by Lowell artist Vassilios "Bill" Giavis, will take up permanent residence inside Dracut's new Town Hall.

The original watercolor painting was created by Giavis, a lifelong Lowell artist, shortly after Giavis first heard Marion read his "A Hundred Nights..." poem aloud on March 17, 1986 at the St. Patrick's Day fundraiser hosted annually by the organization today known as "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.

I love having yet another reminder of the all the wonderful ways artists inspire each other in this season of light.

First Day of Christmas 2013

A Christmas gift from my husband that we hung on our Rosa Multiflora yesterday inspired me to write out the Emily Dickinson poem. And reflect back on my post about hope for Advent.