A gallery, a puppet, and more

How will Forecast inspire you? We asked the question but I’m not sure we were fully prepared for the response. Forecast, the word-art pairing that began as a collaboration of my poems with Tracy Weil’s paintings, has stirred unexpected elaborations.

Created first as an art exhibition, Forecast showed last fall to enthusiastic crowds at Weilworks Gallery in Denver.

Then it was an exhibition book, in vivid four-color, hardcover glory.

Then it was an online gallery, offering links to the book, poems and poster prints.

Then it was a Fan Club, drawing Facebook applause.

With Forecast, Tracy and I aimed to blend the creative arts to reach an audience of people who wouldn’t normally appreciate or gravitate toward art or poetry. Again and again, we asked: How will Forecast inspire you?

And the answer is: Forecast has now gone nutty, with an endearing puppet providing a dose of literary levity.

What’s next? An Ice Capades interpretation? A showing at the Disney World art gallery (and is there such a place?). Forecast is now hitting the road, looking to drop in for a chat, a film, a showing near you. Have you room? time? desire?

Snort, sigh, read & thrive

We’re renegades, I recently told a friend, making art that blurs defined lines.

We combine visual art with word art. We seek to give art air, offering paintings and poems to people and places in unexpected ways. Such a blending is not an especially unusual idea but still I sometimes feel out of step with writers and artists taking more traditional routes.

We’re traveling a pebbled path, I tell my friend, but we’re not alone on the trail.

Elizabeth Bradfield, editor and founder of Broadsided Press, is right here with us. Broadsided is “busting poems out of their perfect-bound covers, to free art from frames, to bring literature and art to the streets.”

Every month, BroadsidedPress.org publishes a new literary/visual collaboration available as a single-sheet PDF to print, enjoy and share — for free.

"Vectors" then print the sheets, called broadsides, and post them in public places, such as cafes, hallways, and bathroom stalls.

“Before paperbacks and pocket books, before blogs, there were broadsides,” explains Bradfield, a writer and designer. “Let's put words out there for people to snort at, sigh over, argue with, and read.”

Vectors are situated across the globe. I’m a vector! And you can be a vector, too. In fact, a few states are woefully vector-less. Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Wyoming need volunteers to spread the joy of words and art combined.

Consider this a call to action, to artists, to writers, to creatives of all sorts: Take to the streets. Share art and thrive!

Speech is a mouth

When poetry is everywhere, the motions of life lift from everyday to elevated. All life is art. All art is life.

With its inspired series of animated poems, the Poetry Foundation has freed words from books and let them fly loose to lift and stir.

Try one here: The Language by Robert Creeley.

Go to the Poetry Foundation for more of the Poetry Everywhere collection.

More reasons to write

Need a creative jog? a jag? a kick in the pants? Writing classes call. Don’t leave home. Write here. Write now. With these easy, affordable online courses, there are no excuses, just more reasons to write.

Southeast Review's
30-Day Writer’s Regimen
The Southeast Review Writing Regimen is for poets, essayists, and fiction writers who want to produce a body of work by establishing structure to their writing life, and, at the same time, find new and innovative ways to approach their craft. Only $15.00.
Go here.

Write Free Month-Long Playshop
A fun, self-paced Write Free Playshop begins in March. The authors of Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life offer a four-week course for only $19.95.
Go here.

Poetry for the People – Scholarship Available
Poetry for the People, an email class led by Sage Cohen, starts March 11. Act fast and you may enjoy the class for free (normally $199.). Scholarship applications are due February 15.
Go here.

Knitted, knotted, mine

“What’s writing really about? It’s trying to take fuller possession of the reality of your life.”

— Ted Hughes
from Quote Poet Unquote: Contemporary Quotations on Poets and Poetry