Weekend Window #1 - Once Upon a Time/in the veins of the earth

Windows. They open; they close. Last year was full of windows. My husband left one job and began a new one. A writer's group I had been in for a long time gradually faded, but I found a new one, one that focuses not on poetry but on writing for children, something I've always wanted to do. Often times as one window closes, another one opens. Sometimes not so. Last year my nephew/godchild died the end of October. There is no window that can open to make this better. It's something that has hung heavy on my heart every day since. Finally, this Thursday night, I sat myself down and wrote a poem about it. No. I'm not going to share it here. At the moment it's just for me, but I might make it public at some point in the future. We'll see.

It felt so good to finally write something after such a long block. It got me thinking about this blog. It's like my old writer's group. It wasn't intentional that I stopped posting. The posts just got fewer and far between and then fizzled out completely. But it is a new year and I'd like to try some new things. In the next month I will be introducing these changes one by one. Today I present to you the Weekend Window.

The idea came from this quote I found online:

Art is the window to man's soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within. 

      ~ Lady Bird Johnson

I don't know if she really said that but I do know that art, in its many forms, does bring much to the world and to each person who either creates or receives it. When I think of art I think of written expressions--short stories that entertain, non-fiction pieces that I can relate to or that give new insight, and, the one I love the most, (this will come as no surprise) poetry. I also think of visual art--paintings (of many styles and utilizing various techniques), sketches, collages, sculptures. And there's audial art. I love music. Pop, rock, funk, classical, etc. I can get lost in a good song.

Art (with the exception of art created soley for personal fulfillment--like my aforementioned poem) is meant to be shared. So I thought it might be neat to share with you one or two pieces of art that I come across each week in the hopes that you, too, might enjoy them. It's like gathering sunbeams and sending them off to shine into your windows. I won't post the work directly in my post (unless, of course, I have permission from the artist) but will tell you a bit about it and then add a link.

Today I have two pieces of sunshine for you. The first is the poem in the veins of the earth by Jay Sizemore which appears in the currently issue of The Lake. Jay is a writer I've been following for a while. I like his descriptive detail and the way he often takes a closer look at things or digs deeper into a subject. Sometimes he is a bit experimental and goes off in a direction that I am not even sure if I am getting exactly what he intended me to but, none-the-less, I get enjoyment from it. He's also not afraid to write about more difficult subjects and can get you thinking about subjects you'd never dwelled on before. His works are varied both in subject matter and style. I love his versatility/verse-atility. (LOL. That's my lame attempt at wordplay!) What I like about this one is that it's almost what I would call simplistic beauty. Not to say that it is simple, but rather accessible. He takes a topic that all of us can relate to, describes it with great  word pictures/imagery, and condenses a broad topic into a short poem which most people can understand and appreciate. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Check it out at The Lake HERE.  

The next piece of art I'd like to share with you is visual. Once Upon A Time by Judith Clay was created with ink, pastel, and colored pencil on drawing paper. I discovered Judith's work about two years ago during a poetry challenge. We were asked to write a poem for one of her pieces, and I simply fell in love with her unique style. One her site she describes her work by saying, "I like to think of my pictures as little escapes from reality where it's possible for fish to fly and for girls to ride on sea horses high above the city." I think most of her work would look great in a children's room, but adults can definitely enjoy it as well. Though this particular piece was a commissioned work and is already sold, prints of it (and of many of her other works) are availabe for purchase. 

To see Once Upon a Time PRESS HERE.

Well, that's it for the first Weekend Share. I hope you come back next weekend to check out what artsy links are posted. Also, stayed tuned for the announcement of my second blog change which involves... 

BOOKS! 

Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I hope you enjoy your weekend. As for me I am going to make a cup of tea, grab a book, and read while the snow falls gently on the ground outside (and the eyelids slowly fall inside). Good night!