22 artists and 21 poets created new art and poetry inspired by one another’s work for the exhibition "Art & Words." Three artists discuss their work and participation.
Andrea Geller discusses her new art inspired by the poem "Morning Mango" by Judith Lechner.
Morning Mango
Andrea Geller
Oil on cradled wood
12" x 12"
MORNING MANGO
Oblong fruit
red-cheeked Humpty-Dumpty
wavering on porch railing.
Balanced in hand
its green tip tenders into yellow
then bursts into the rose of dawn.
A Harlequin costume to catch the eye
divert the mouth.
But not for long.
A slice of knife liberates
the smell of sea breeze
rich with morning sun.
Teeth comb strands of golden flesh
while sweet juice slides down the throat.
If I slept beneath a mango tree, would perfection pale?
— © Judith Lechner
Debra Friedkin discusses her art "Emergence" that inspired new poems by Barbara Hall and Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Emergence
Debra Friedkin
Mixed media coillage
6” x 8” framed to 11” x 12”
this work inspired the poems
EMERGENCE
the wizard awakens as crows and ravens call his name
he stands tall in the mystical ether, white light swirls around him
he holds his ruby crystal amulet high with bony fingers
mankind, damaged by war, pestilence, ancient crucifixion, redemption
gathers wisdom captive in the glowing red orb
the ravens and crows have escaped to warn mankind:
the reversal has begun, native myths warned of this day of emergence
The Akashic Record Book has opened, the task done:
tablets of the past, present and future, unified with the Source, are open
the ruby crystal encapsulating the divine book of remembrance reveals all:
karmic debt, blockage, dreams, accomplishments, names etched in eternity
the tiny white dot of light now grows and glows red
the fire of knowledge has been lit
— © Barbara Hall
EMERGENCE
On a day like this
all the gulls are winging
away from the maelstrom,
all the sparrows,
blackbirds, all other feathered
kin are taking flight,
frightened of what grows,
radiates, pulses light
at the center of this day:
some rock uplifted,
in transubstantiation becoming
the crystalline beacon
of the world.
On a day like today
any crown would be metallic
like the silver one
that hovers in the sky.
O such a magnetic band.
Hands, hands, hands uncuffed,
unshackled, unhindered,
unrestrained, hover,
with rusty wounds they suffer
their stigmatas. They sign
a silent, prayerful language:
love, love, love emerging
despite all darkness
from below.
— © Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Theresa Landi Daniel discusses the inspiration behind her art and poem "Special Providence
Special Providence
Theresa Landi Daniel
Handmade paper with collaged elements
6.5” x 5” framed in red shadow box 9” x 9”
This art inspired the poem
SPECIAL PROVIDENCE
....There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come—
Hamlet, to Horatio
Nestled in fluff and woven twists,
hatchlings, a vibrating bloom of mouths,
deep diamond petal-points open,
held up like cups on bony necks.
Four spider-veined, pale hinges of want
yellow-yell demand,
more sway and pulse than sound.
Bird mother feeding-frantic.
Bobbing beak, and again - snips down throats.
Can she count? Equal shares; fill each cup....
Aside and under, a small bowed head,
eyes still closed - mouth clamped.
Opened perhaps briefly,
perhaps not. Need passed over,
or too weak to even try....
An exhale, a stir... rest,
against the nest,
beneath the nearest sibling mouth,
adrift then half-capsized,
jarred by its energy. That waiting hinge of want.
Flapping feeder returns
to a too-full nest,
alights.
Imbalance on the rim, claw-catch reflex spreads
and dips a wing
that slips in, through the angled fault
below the greedy, and above
the the silent one.
No demand, no diamond opened to be filled.
The briefest brush of the thin skull-cap,
the tender barely conscious dome,
against the soft of the outer wing.
The single moment
of contact
before swept over the edge
by the lift of a re-tucked wing.
— © Theresa Landi Daniel