Revisiting an Old Poem with New Art

From April 30, 2015 SING THAT POEM

by Cathy Stephens Pratt

Students - Today's poem is from April 30, 2015...the last day of my SING THAT POEM project for National Poetry Month 2015. Each poem that month matched a song tune, and this one matches the tune of Greensleeves.  I chose to send this poem to artist Cathy Stephens Pratt during SPARK 41. She had sent me a whimsical image of her painting depicting a house, path, flowers, and mushrooms, and I shared the poem I wrote from it HERE.

Cathy made such an enchanting painting to go with this poemsong about Joanna.  I asked her to tell me a bit about her process.  Here is what she said:

Being an illustrator, what I do is take an idea or a story and turn it into a painting. I distill ideas into marks on paper. Sometimes I abstract the images to enhance or simplify ideas, and sometimes what I paint is simply a representation of the words. Amy’s written piece was so utterly charming I only wanted to support her words with simple images. I didn’t want to embellish because I felt like her words were perfectly lovely and told a story, a very vivid story, all by themselves. 

I am grateful to have been paired with Cathy. SPARK always opens my world. And lucky me!  Cathy generously offered to send me her painting, and I am excited to hang it up here at home.  I wish I could find the real Joanna, the real girl who read to birds back in 2013. If I could, I would send the painting to her.  

Do visit Cathy's website, and step into a world of color and joy!

The tag line for SPARK is "art from writing: writing from art." I think that I will go make some drawings and art today.  Our writing selves do feed our art making selves and our art making selves do feed our writing selves. 

In other news:

Linda Kulp of Write Time is the winner of last week's giveaway of I AM SOMEONE ELSE, poems collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Chris Hsu.  Linda - please let me know your snail mail address, and I will send this book your way.

At Sharing Our Notebooks, my other online home, I am thrilled to welcome Art Educator Matthew Grundler. Please visit his post about visual journals...and be inspired! (There is a giveaway there too.)

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Deowriter with a magical poetry prompt fortune teller gift from Tabatha and some poems they wrote from it.  Delightful! Don't miss  Please know that we gather each Friday, sharing poems and poemlove, and all are always welcome.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Let's Write from Museum Postcards!

STORAGE JAR DECORATED WITH MOUNTAIN GOATS, 

Iran, Public Domain

Draft by Amy LV

Students - This week I had the good fortune to visit two schools in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  At Coleman School, I led two assemblies and loved meeting the children and teachers.  And at Hamilton School, where I have visited before, I did some notebook keeping with second graders and wrote about art with fourth graders.  Delightful!

Librarian Lisa Tomaselli asked if I would do this art writing with the two fourth grade classes as she had fallen love with Lee Bennett Hopkins's beautiful WORLD MAKE WAY: NEW POEMS INSPIRED BY ART FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (Abrams.) My poem, Young Ashoka Sundari, lives in these pages.

Available at Your Local Bookshop

So we did!  I spread out all kinds of art postcards, each depicting a piece of art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We looked at several postcards, we each chose one, we took some notes...and we wrote.  I chose the STORAGE JAR DECORATED WITH MOUNTAIN GOATS, and as I wrote about it, I fell in love with it more and more. I now feel connected not only to the goat and the pot...but to the potter.

Poetry about art is called ekphrastic poetry.  Writers and artists of all kinds are often inspired by each others' work, and sometimes when I do not know what to write about, I turn to art.  Many writers do.

If you choose to write about art, consider the point of view you will take in your writing. In this poem, I chose to be the potter, someone you do not even see in the piece.

Grey shared her draft with me at the end of class, and she was kind enough to allow me to share it here with you. Note how Grey clearly chooses which girl's voice to use in her poem. Note how specific she is with her descriptions and imaginings, offering us a possible insight to this young pianist's thoughts. Thank you, Grey! I have invited all of these young poets to all share poems here when they are ready.

Untitled Poemdraft by Grey

Postcard of TWO YOUNG GIRLS AT THE PIANO 

by Auguste Renoir, Public Domain

(Click to Enlarge)

                                                    Father's watching in the parlor,

                                                    Sister's helping read the notes,

                                                    I'm looking for the last note G,

                                                    black keys white keys candle hooks,

                                                    I cannot find the last note G,

                                                    I make do with B instead.

                                                    by Grey, 4th Grade Poet, Hamilton School

If you wish to read many wonderful poems inspired by art, I encourage you to visit Irene Latham's Live Your Poem, where each April, she writes and shares ekphrastic poetry under the project heading ARTSPEAK!

This weekend I look forward to the New York Reading Association Conference, where I will speak twice about POEMS ARE TEACHERS.  Will any of you be at this conference?

Kay is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today at A Journey Through the Pages with lovely words inspired by today's morning - chicken feeding - sunrise. Please know that each Poetry Friday, we gather together to share books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  Everyone is always welcome to visit, comment, and post.  We invite you!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Spark 16: Opposites & Singing

Opposites Attract

Inspiration Piece by Bonnie Lebesch

For the past two weeks, many writers and artists and musicians have been musing and planning and creating for Spark 16. I was one of these people, matched up with artist Bonnie Lebesch to exchange "inspiration pieces" and respond in our respective arts. Bonnie sent me "Opposites Attract" (above) as an inspiration piece, and I had 10 days to write something from it. I wrote the poem below.

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

I was intrigued and inspired by "Opposites Attract," and I fell in love with the colors and all of that roundness.  Both the circles and the title made me think about people and how sometimes we roll through life missing the beauty of others, others who are different from us.  By opening up, seeing, and realizing that we are all a bit of each other, we can love the world more easily.  I slipped into a meditative place when I wrote "Circles."

I chose to send the following to Bonnie as an inspiration piece, a poem from last September. Below you can read the poem and see the enchanting painting that Bonnie Lebesch made in response.  I love these pairings and am so grateful for the community that Amy Souza provides with Spark.  If you would like to see more of Bonnie's work, visit her website.  And to see more of the Spark pairings, visit the SPARK website.

 

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

I Heard A Lady Singing

by Bonnie Lebesch - Response

Students - I highly recommend this exercise. You might get together with a friend, or your class might match yourselves with another class. Make art or writings and then trade. Give yourself a certain amount of time and then share your responses.

I have participated in Spark before...in Spark 10 here and here, in Spark 11 here, in Spark 14 here, Spark 15 here and here. It is always a thrill and a surprise!

If you did not stop by last Friday, please don't miss the poetry peek with first grade teacher Susan Kellner, her poet student Chloe, and Chloe's mom. Wonderful words and work.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Spark 15 II & Paula Lantz's Response

Boulders in My Heart 

by Paula B. Lantz

Students - yesterday I shared a painting by artist Paula B. Lantz, the painting which inspired "The Water Tower." Today you can see how "White Fields," inspired this beautiful piece of art by Paula! To learn more about SPARK, brainchild of Amy Souza, and how the process works, visit here.

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Spark 15 & The Water Tower

Landscape

Mixed Media on Canvas

by Paula B. Lantz

Students - once again, it's been a delight to take part in SPARK...SPARK 15!  This time I was lucky enough to be paired up with artist Paula B. Lantz, and she gave me permission to choose any of her work from the Touchstone Gallery to spark my writing.  I so enjoyed browsing through her work, and when I saw the painting above, I knew it was the one!

Writing from art stretches a whole new part of one's mind, and I highly recommend it as an exercise.  You might find a shoe box and collect postcards from art museums or gather quirky pictures that somehow speak to you...  Then, if ever you think, "I have no ideas," you can simply pluck a picture and see where it takes you.  I have learned this from SPARK.

In writing today's poem, I worked to focus especially on color, to use color words all along the way.  Last year, a teacher friend shared some of his students' written stories with me.  Michael's story detailed a memory he had of a girl throwing up on his bus.  What struck me was his use of color: face purple like a grape, white like snow...  When I wrote this poem, I tried to write like Michael.  Try that sometime; write with color words.

Many thanks to Amy Souza for again putting together a wonderful opportunity for artists, musicians, and teachers to collaborate in this way.  This is my fourth time participating, and each time is nourishing and exciting!  All are welcome to participate, and I encourage you to check out the website and the pieces.  Too, Amy Souza, teacher Jamie Palmer, and I still plan to get a small SPARK KIDS going this spring.  More details to follow.

I will share Paula's response to my poem tomorrow, Saturday! 

In other writing news, this week I have a column about ears and holes in the "My View" column of THE BUFFALO NEWS.

Thank you to Ruth Ayres of Ruth Ayres Writes and Two Writing Teachers for her generous sharing of both notebooks and writing process this week over at Sharing Our Notebooks, a resource for teaching students all about notebook keeping and for the nosy among us to peek into others' notebooks.

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at Check It Out.  Check it out!

'Like' The Poem Farm Facebook Page for regular updates of all things poetry!

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)