Poetic Journey for Wednesday

Becky beat me again this week with her poem on My So-Called Life.

The Adventures of Dangerous Meredith

And once again I am going to cheat by posting an Oscar Wilde poem sent to me by Poem Hunter.com.

Camma

AS one who poring on a Grecian urn
Scans the fair shapes some Attic hand hath made,
God with slim goddess, goodly man with maid,
And for their beauty's sake is loth to turn
And face the obvious day, must I not yearn
For many a secret moon of indolent bliss,
When in the midmost shrine of Artemis
I see thee standing, antique-limbed, and stern?

And yet--methinks I'd rather see thee play
That serpent of old Nile, whose witchery
Made Emperors drunken,--come, great Egypt, shake
Our stage with all thy mimic pageants! Nay,
I am grown sick of unreal passions, make
The world thine Actium, me thine Antony!

Oscar Wilde

More poems from Oscar Wilde

If you have a poem you would like to share with us please leave a comment below or message me on Facebook with your url. Thank you.

Been There/Done That Sale at Studio

I am currently creating havoc in my studio. The above is a pre-havoc photo believe it or not. I decided recently to clear out some of the art supplies I bought in a previous artistic incarnation and to also put on drastic sale some of my older works before I truly discovered my style as it were. I need space. Space on the walls and space in the flat files.

So I committed by putting ad in the paper, put up fliers, and asked other artist friends to join in the fun. It is a good thing I am committed because I might have backed out. This is more work than I thought it would be.

Yes, several experts say to streamline your life you need to rid it of clutter. Those experts can afford hire people to do this. Admittedly I am getting some empty spaces in the flat files to put works in progress, etc. And hopefully after this weekend I will have more space on my walls, etc.

I once painted on watercolor paper and matted and framed under glass. And for 15 years I made Mardi Gras masks. Rather elaborate ones as you can see in this photo. All very wearable and quite collectable.


I even did sculpture. This one is called Hanging Eight on a Painted Turtle in a Volcanic Sea.


And I worked in pen and inks. I did that to break out of doing "pastel" watercolors in the traditional style oddly enough.

And I even tried my hand at selling my photography. The result has been to have tons of art supplies I no longer use. And inventory I have not sold because you cannot put the old stuff with the new stuff at the top fairs. Some no doubt I will keep like this pen and ink taken from a photo of me and my mother in a park in Rome.

But I am running out of walls to keep it all. Something has got to go. All my friends seem to be downsizing. I was just not prepared for the chaos that created.

Wish me luck this weekend.

Friday Foto and Story

I took the above photo this spring at the Albuquerque Zoo with my sister. I recently posted it on a Facebook photography group named Photo Contest. And I was getting several very nice comments about it and a couple other pictures posted.

I don't like most of the games and applications on Facebook but I am becoming quite rapidly addicted to Scrabble there. And I love that they have groups with special interests. I wish Blogger would start groups. Anyway I belong to Book Nerds and a couple photography groups until this week. I am now down to just one photo group - one I and a friend began. The kinder and gentler photo group - Picture Picks.

I parted ways with Photo Contest when they began sending out blanket messages that we were breaking the rules. Well, I wasn't. And I had believed for some time several people had broken rules like "minimal photoshopping" but had held my tongue as it were. In a half hour period I got three messages from them about the same complaint. One in all capitals which is considered screaming in e-mail lingo.

I am an admin to two groups so I know you can select out just those breaking the rules and message them. I decided life was too short for such rudeness and went back and quietly deleted my photographs and removed myself from the group. They could have just as quietly gone and deleted the photos that did not follow the rules and message those people that broke them.

I think the flamingoes is still a beautiful photograph. I call it All Tucked Away.

Poetic Journey for Wednesday

Sorry poetry fans. With everything else going on in my life I about forgot Poetry Wednesday this week. Yesterday was the autumnal equinox so the picture above of the leaves just beginning to turn and the following poem seemed very appropriate.


Autumn Song

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the heart feels a languid grief
Laid on it for a covering,
And how sleep seems a goodly thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

And how the swift beat of the brain
Falters because it is in vain,
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf
Knowest thou not? and how the chief
Of joys seems--not to suffer pain?

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the soul feels like a dried sheaf
Bound up at length for harvesting,
And how death seems a comely thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

More poems from Dante Gabriel Rossetti

My so-Called Life

The Adventures of Dangerous Meredith

Intelliblog

Aussie Lynn Downunder

Catherine Sweetpotatoe

Let me know if you have a poem for today's poetic journey by posting a comment below or otherwise giving me your url.

Friday Foto and Story

This Friday's photo is of Magique butting into yet another picture. It seems the only way I get a picture of her is by aiming the camera at something else.

This picture was taken at a Rubicon Rest this last weekend. The dogs are trained to get in the Jeep when we call Rubicon Up and out when we say Rubicon Rest. Doors fly open and four dogs and three people spill out to sniff out the neighborhood. For us two legged travelers this means photo opportunities. I wanted a picture of the old stump Magique is blocking. And for the dogs it means sniffing out the territory. There was a chipmunk borrow below this stump so getting a picture of it without all or part of four digs was not easy.

The dogs had a grand time at this Rubicon Rest running around in circles after rodents and new scent pictures. To their credit they seldom stray too far and are johnny on the spot when we call Rubicon Up.

Poetic Journey - One Sided Dialog

Mercury is in retrograde at the moment. It will be going direct on the 29th. I cannot wait Communication has definitely been hampered since the 7th and ergo the following poem.

One sided dialog

I know you think you heard
What you hoped I'd say
But I assure you
I did not say that.

Or was it me who thought I said
Something more direct
But in an effort to be not rued
Didn't make myself perfectly clear.

What I meant was not merely no
But hell no
A far cry from the maybe
You claim I agreed to.

It think it is an interesting idea
Is by no means agreement
Just because I might agree in principle
Is not reason to assume I will do it.

It seemd a very simple matter
Us on two sides of an issue
Neither right nor wrong
I just abhor how you managed it.

Saw my politeness as endorsement
And quoted me in agreement
Now it is clear
Your reality is not mine.

I know you wanted to hear
What you are now saying I said
But I assure you I did not
I said very clearly, to me, No Way!

You have enough company
With just the voices in your head
Changing monologue to dialog
Fact to fiction/fiction to fact.

For the record I said no.

(c) J. Binford-Bell

If you have a poem to share with us on this week's poetic journey please leave a comment here or message me with your url.

Nicholas V on Intelliblog

Heatherbelle on Never on Sunday

Art Shows are Strange Things

Last night was the opening reception and presentation of awards for the Moreno Valley Arts Council second annual themed exhibit. The theme was Illusions to tie in with the first ever paranormal conference being held in our valley at the same time. Art shows can be a bit strange to begin with but then add a whole group of people that had been studying alien abductions all day and you are in for a wild ride as you mingle from conversation to conversation.

The opening reception is also a culmination of lots of hard work if you are on the board of the sponsoring organization. And if you are an artist that was juried into the exhibit. I was exhausted and just wanted to go home and light the season's first fire to take off the chill of a day of rain and hail. But I got to see my sister staring at her matted and framed photographs displayed in their first ever exhibit. Been a while since I was at that point but there is still a thrill of my own as well as shared with her.

The judging was done in private early in the day and only one person knew the results as we all mingled with each other and discussed the merits of every piece. And after the awards we all second guessed the judge's opinion. Well, unless like me, you got best of show. I figured he was spot on. Though I must admit I had doubts about his first place designation. But judging is just personal opinion backed by some knowledge of art. Different judge and I might not have even gotten honorable mention.

So I am standing before my winning piece: Lamentation of the Spirits (viewable in the blog below) and discussing it with one of the patrons attending when another artist in the show comes up with his wife. She assumes because I have painted a church I have "met" Jesus. I and the patron had just been sharing the history of Catholic missions in this area being built over the graves of the Indians they killed to settle the area. I think I said something flip like, "No, he died before I was born." At which point she proceeds to try to save me there and then and show me the way.

I followed the escaping patron across the room to my sister's photographs after explaining I was a Buddhist. The wife, with her husband the artist, were now teamed up on a mission to put me right in my wrong thinking and ambushed me all night long. I really did not want to be rude. I was there for art, a possible sale of said art, and talk to friends and fellow artists about art - oh, and aliens. I was buffed and fluffed and groomed and on my best behavior. I was the gracious winner of best of show for a painting about spirits abandoning a Catholic church!

As a side note the success of this painting amazes me somewhat. Every once in a while I feel the need to make a statement with a painting and generally it makes people feel uncomfortable. So I figure it is a "for me" work and rush to get it into an exhibit where it can garner awards if not a sale. But everyone likes this painting historic statement or no.

This blog is too long and I have reached no conclusions. Find your own.

Showcase

I have spoken about the exhibit my sister and I will be in this weekend: Illusions. It is not my first juried show but it my sister's. I am very thrilled for her. My three entries will all be included. I have showcased them here before one at a time but will put them all together here today.

The Stuff of Dreams

Lamentation of the Spirits

The Guardian of Illusions

There are some nice prizes connected with this exhibit and the opportunity to sell our works so wish me and my sister, Debbie, luck in both ventures.

Poetic Journey for Wednesday

It is time again for our Poetic Journey. If you have a poem to share this week leave a comment with your url.

Dangerous Meredith is the first to join our tour

As frequent readers know I have been having issues with being able to write poetry lately. I have been saying it has to do with time and not having enough of it. But I think it has to do with listening like art has to do with seeing. I watched the Movie August Rush this weekend and the child prodigy talks about being able to hear music all around him as if it comes from the universe.

I have had the ability since I was a child to "see" what others cannot see in the world around me when I take the time to look. I took a recess this week from my trials and tribulations and looked through the lens of a camera and was given gifts. And in a quiet moment words.

Glorious Gift

Just this moment
Isolated
Clear
Sparkling in the mountain air.

This second of clarity
A gift of vision
Posed
Before me to see.

A rain drop on a leaf
A last fall flower
In a ray of sun
A single cone upon a pin bough.

The call of a falcon spotting prey
An eagle
Upon a snag
Seeing, hearing what I might have missed.

A cathedral of aspens
Rising before me
Grace
Drink for a thirsty traveler.

(c) J. Binford-Bell

If you have not seen August Rush may I suggest it to you. I found it a delight. Currently on DVD and available through Netflix.

Poetic Journey for Wednesday

Once again the week has passed and I have not put pen to paper. I had intended to do so today but spent five hours with my legal aid attorney and an hour going and an hour coming back. This is the first day of September and I already wish it would go away. So I am posting a poem hunter poem about October.


A Calendar of Sonnets: October

The month of carnival of all the year,
When Nature lets the wild earth go its way,
And spend whole seasons on a single day.
The spring-time holds her white and purple dear;
October, lavish, flaunts them far and near;
The summer charily her reds doth lay
Like jewels on her costliest array;
October, scornful, burns them on a bier.
The winter hoards his pearls of frost in sign
Of kingdom: whiter pearls than winter knew,
Oar empress wore, in Egypt's ancient line,
October, feasting 'neath her dome of blue,
Drinks at a single draught, slow filtered through
Sunshiny air, as in a tingling wine!

Helen Hunt Jackson

More poems from Helen Hunt Jackson

Bekkieann on My so-Called Life

Aussie Lynn Downunder

Bev on To Rhyme or not to Rhyme

Heatherbelle on Never on Sunday

Bee's Blog

Intelliblog