Friday, January 15, 2016

Friday's Poetica Miscellanea

My poem, "In Mountains", is on Silver Birch Press.  I hope you can stop by!   The poem is written for the theme "Me in Fiction".  I chose Heidi as my character.  You MUST remember her!  I'd bet most of you have read "Heidi".  Oh, I so loved that book - well, those books, really!  I also read the next two: "Heidi Grows Up" and "Heidi's Children", when I was young.  Most people are probably not familiar with those two books.  They were written by Spyri's French translator, Charles Tritten.  I felt like I had discovered a secret world in the mountains, and then to top it off, discovered secret books.  Until doing a search on Amazon, I had never, since childhood, heard of those two books about Heidi's older years.

After reading Heidi, I wanted to eat goat cheese and hardy home-baked breads, and drink goat milk and look up at the night sky through an open window above my hay stuffed mattress.  It sounded wonderful and wild!

I'd love some comments there...just to show them that someone does, in fact, read the poems on their site!

And now, I just have to share this picture and poem:
Last year, for Christmas, I got my husband a yellow lab pup, Ginger.  And this year, I painted her portrait.  I hadn't expected it to come out, so I hadn't put it on a standard sized piece of paper.  It was supposed to be practice.  My first picture was awful and overworked.  This one I tried to do quickly and without much preamble - grab a piece of watercolor paper, a brush, three colors and water.  Don't draw.  Just paint.  Don't think.  Just do.
I was kinda floored when I did it.  Is it a Rembrandt?  No.  But I'm okay with that. I was still pretty pleased with my watercolor - it's the first one that I've actually signed.  Hopefully I will improve with age and practice.  But for now, I do like how Ginger's portrait came out.

The finishing touch to my husband's gift was having it framed.  I ordered the frame custom made by Art to Frame on line!  It's looks so "finished" now.  You pick the frame material, the matte color, or colors if you do a double mat.  Tell them the inside dimensions you need for the mat, and they do the rest.  It comes all sized just right for your picture to be placed inside.  Oh, and you pick plain glass, non-glare finish, or plexiglass.  Another offering they have is for you to send them an image or images digitally to be framed or put on canvas.  Lots of options for art online nowadays!

Here's a "happy haiku with a reverso ending" poem for Ginger... like maybe we could call it a Semi-reversoku...


Ginger

Warm, brown eyes watch you,
Studying body language,
Waiting for your smile;

Her tongue smile-licks back,
Tail perpetual motion,
Her body electrified -

Wanting to please you,
But the happy always wins!
Joyous is a dog

 Waiting for your smile.
Studying body language,
Warm, brown eyes watch you.

Donna JT Smith, Jan 13, 2016

So I DID finally put a poem up here.  And now for more poetry, it would behoove (or is that "beehive"?) you to head on over to visit Keri's at Keri Recommends for the Poetry Friday Roundup!

30 comments:

  1. I enjoyed all the post, am out the door for car 'fixing', but will be sure to visit your other poem too. I like the reverso, that watching for a smile. Dogs are so smart. And your watercolor is beautiful. Thanks also for the framing link. It worked so well! Have a lovely day, Donna!

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    1. I hope your "car fixing" was done happily with no complications and added expense! Never like surprises that way!

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  2. Thank you for all the wonders you shared here! Your Ginger portrait makes me smile. It truly looks as if the dog posed, watching your painter-poet's body language, accommodating your desire to capture her waiting, her warm brown eyes. What a team! You did it! Thank you for making your husband's gift our gift, too!...I'm off to the other site now. Thank you for the invitation. God bless you!

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    1. She has soul piercing eyes, and is such a happy dog! Sometimes she helps me realize that that's what life is about - joy and trust!

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  3. Gorgeous watercolor of Ginger, Donna! And your poem ("Semi-reversoku") accompanies it beautifully. I feel like I got to "know" Ginger a little bit better from this post. =)

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    1. Thanks, Bridget! She may get more coverage in future posts. She's such a sweetheart.

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  4. It's funny how the things we do on the fly sometimes work out better than the ones we plan out carefully. Your picture looks great framed!

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    1. Thanks. And you are so right. Overworking, overthinking...wait, overeating, overreacting...none of them are good!

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  5. Donna -- that last stanza of your Heidi poem! It reminds me of visiting my parents' cabin in the mountains. Beautiful.

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    1. I've never really been to the mountains. Maine's mountains are mostly like hills to everyone else. Spending time at a cabin in the mountains - that must be wonderful!

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  6. Donna, you have an all-inclusive post today, art blended with poetry and literature. I am impressed with your painting and then to top it off with a poem-wonderful. Marilyn Singer spoke about the reverso at NCTE 16. "Her body electrified" provides me with a great visual of Ginger. (I left a comment on the Heidi poem you created.)

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    1. We had her spayed yesterday, so she's a little quieter today... not a lot! Thanks for commenting on Silver Birch Press!

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  7. What a wonderful gift! I bet your husband loved the painting and the poem.

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    1. He does love his painting! I was so excited to give it to him. It was hard to keep the secret... stashed it away in plain sight for a month!

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  8. Viva original art!! Great message about letting go and letting art flow!

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    1. It's difficult to let go of the reins... kind of like trying to get into a childlike play mode that you have been away from too long!

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  9. Don't think. Just do.

    Sage advice. The thinking part is what keeps me from getting into art with actual materials (as opposed to digital). I think about how something doesn't look as I imagined, or about the paint I wasted, or about how that line isn't quite right, or, or, or. We're our own worse enemies.

    Ginger's portraits are both excellent, and you're right to be proud of your work!

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    1. Thank you, Diane! It's hard not to be hard on ourselves! You do such wonderful digital work, I would think you would love to try paint to paper work just to take digital images of for use - even simple backgrounds. Ooh, think Eric Carle! Maybe I'll try some of that! Ding! Idea!

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  10. Donna, you are so amazingly creative! What a wonderful gift, and I think you may be onto something with your Semi-reversoku... Ginger looks/sounds like a real sweetheart. off to read your Silver Birch poem. xo

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    1. Thanks, Irene! ☺️
      Ginger is a sweetheart. Such a happy girl, too!
      And thanks for taking the time to visit Silver Birch!

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  11. Wow, Donna! You have so many talents! Most of all you have a warm heart! Thanks for finding the comments on the blog and being clever withoutlet. :-) I hate to hear of your pre-diabetic diagnosis. Kudos to you for working to control it all with diet and exercise! I'm off to Silver Birch!

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  12. Donna! What a wonderful portrait– The texture, the shading, the life in that little pup's eyes. You are brave to not overthink what you create. I find that works best in poetry as well. At least as far as first drafts go. ;)

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    1. Thanks, Michelle! I've found that to be true in writing first drafts also! And sometimes first drafts end up being final drafts that way (or nearly so).

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  13. Beautiful, Donna! I am in awe in my stick figure world!

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    1. Oh, there is plenty of room in the art world for stick figure countries! Have you ever seen the blog: http://crappypictures.com/? Go to older posts...she does have a couple of books out now and is on "Pause" for a bit. Much of her blog with stick figures is very funny...sometimes a bit crass...but still funny.

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  14. It's beautiful, Donna! I can't believe you just dashed it off. The accompanying haiku is a perfect pairing. What a fabulous gift.

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    1. Haven't really done any more watercolor since that picture! I have to work up my nerve - I'm sure/ scared I won't like the next one!

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  15. Hi there Donna, the portrait and the poem are both exquisite. I just finished reading Mary Oliver's Dog Songs - I have a feeling you'd like that one. :)

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