Greetings, Poetry Lovers!
Happy Lunar New Year. This week I'm sharing two more postcards from our New Year Poem Postcard Project swap, and my own, too, which I finally mailed out last week. ;0)
First up, one from our fearless leader, Jone Rush MacCulloch, who organizes this postal shindig each new year.
Her intriguing image features this haiku:
divergent pathways
a new year
alive with wonder
©Jone Rush MacCullocch
I'm sure that like me, you're a fan of Jone's mean camera skills as well as her poetic prowess. I love the texture in this picture and asked her about the tracks. She said they were bird tracks on her deck, made during the first light snow. Beautiful!
Side note - I'm super excited to have learned that Jone's own "pathways" are going to drift over toward my side of the world for a trip soon, and I'm planning to hop in the car and go meet up with her! (We live on opposite coasts.) Jealous? Yep, thought you might be - we'll snap a picture! ;0)
Second, I received a beautiful card late Thursday from Sarah Grace Tuttle. The postcard features a colorful, inviting painting of Commonwealth Books in Boston, Massachusetts by Bob Ecksem. Makes me want to walk right into that shop and not come out for hours! Sarah's poem on the back offers a celebration of snow. I know - many of you all have probably had your fill already this year, but here's a fresh and lovely perspective:
Let the Snow Come
A cool pressure blanket
to soothe the frantic world,
made of fabric in
a purple shadow pattern
threads of moonlight glitter
seams of bare branches
that can cradle me
as I rest.
©Sarah Grace Tuttle
Well, the frantic world could definitely use a cool comforter! And we could all do with some rest under threads of moonlight, couldn't we? Sigh.
Many thanks to Jone and Sarah Grace for these gifts.
This year, as I was receiving so many gorgeous, inspired, and inspiring poem postcards (see the last few posts), I got a wild hair. I thought I'd toss in a chuckle. So in honor of the Year of the Tyger, which came padding in at the beginning of the week, I had a little fun with "The Tyger" by William Blake (1757-1827).
Poet Poet, burning bright
In the blue computer light
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful syntax-y?
...
Did he who made Iambs make thee?
©Robyn Hood Black, after, and with apologies to, William Blake
(You can find Blake's original illustrated poem, from his Songs of Innocence and Experience, here and the text only here.)
To my pen and ink tiger sketch, I filled in with stripes which are actually snippets from Blake's draft of "The Tyger" from one of his notebooks (copied from a reproduction in Peter Ackroyd's book, BLAKE). It was helpful to me that Blake had so many scratch-throughs in several lines. These offered bold horizontal darks, and also gave me comfort that even poetic geniuses make mistakes...;0)
Thanks again to Jone for organizing the swap, and here's to poetry running wild in 2022!
Now, go pounce on Unexpected Intersections, where Elisabeth is kindly rounding up Poetry Friday this week.