Bits of Inspiration ~ My Story

 I can't believe this is my last prompt in the Garden. I am so blessed to have been part of Imaginary Garden With Real Toads. Each poet I've read here, met here, has been a mentor and inspiration to explore my voice through poetry. Today I find it fitting to share an incredible art piece from artist, Karina Llergo, titled, My Story, which she has graciously given me permission to use for our prompt.

My Story by Karina llergo  (used with permission)

"Throughout her professional life, Karina painted and worked tirelessly to develop her unique style.  As a lifelong dancer, competitive swimmer and enthusiastic skydiver, she found herself drawn to depicting on canvas the palpable energy of the human body in motion.  Driven by these fascinations and armed with her talent for figurative painting , Karina found a way to translate her observations and creative imagination into thought-provoking paintings of breathtaking beauty.   

Today's challenge is to create a new poem inspired by Karina's vibrant, beautiful art piece. If you repost the image to your blog please credit Karina by using the following link: https://karinallergosalto.com/. 

Please feel free to visit and view more of Karina llergo's  amazing art at  https://karinallergosalto.com/ and on Instagram @karinallergoart.com

If you post your poem on instagram using Karina's image, please tag @karinallergoart  and mention her as collaborative artist in your post. 

Bits Of Inspiration ~ Mi Young Lee

Recently I was privileged to reconnect with the artist, Mi Young Lee, at The Bayou City Art Festival in Houston. She is a talented artist with such a beautiful spirit. While we were discussing her art and inspiration she did the most amazing thing. She gifted me with one of her lithographs. It is not a copy, but an original work of art, individually inked, pulled, and signed. I was stunned, humbled, and grateful for such a beautiful gift.

As we continued to talk she spoke of a woman who had written a poem about one of her paintings so I thought it would be fitting to use my gift as inspiration for poetry here in the garden.

Mi Young Lee

Mi Young Lee's philosophy about her painting is, "The style and techniques I utilize in translating my feelings to images have grown from within myself as a result of my emotional response to my work and my life's experiences. My paintings are a composite of geometric forms, organic shapes, gestures, and texture, combined in a kaleidoscope of color to create an image of harmony, energy and optimism."

I see many things when I look at this painting, joy, heart, spring, hope, peace, strength, blue sky. I could go on and on. Here are a few quotes that I feel connect me to the art.

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves." Buddha

"Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy." 

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things." William Wordsworth

"Poetry is a beautiful way of spoiling prose, and the laborious art of exchanging plain sense for harmony." Horace Walpole

The challenge for today is to write an original poem inspired by this Mi Young Lee painting. It can be in any style you choose. Please post it on Mr. Linky and visit your fellow poets to read their offerings. 

Bits Of Inspiration ~ Maya Deren

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today I want to share Maya Deren with you and hope her innovative approach to film art will inspire you.

Maya Deren (April 29, 1917 – October 13, 1961), born Eleanora Derenkowskaia (Russian:Элеоно́ра Деренко́вская), was one of the most important American experimental filmmakers and entrepreneurial promoters of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer and photographer.

The function of film, Deren believed, like most art forms, was to create an experience; each one of her films would evoke new conclusions, lending her focus to be dynamic and always-evolving. She combined her interests in dance, voodoo and subjective psychology in a series of surreal, perceptual, black and white short films. Using editing, multiple exposures, jump cutting, superimposition, slow-motion and other camera techniques to her fullest advantage, Deren creates continued motion through discontinued space, while abandoning the established notions of physical space and time, with the ability to turn her vision into a stream of consciousness. (Wikipedia)

In reading about Maya I found agreement between different sources that Meshes of the Afternoon is one of the most influential experimental films in American cinema.

She was also a poet. The following are excerpts from two of her poems.

It Must Be Done with Mirrors 

It must be done with mirrors 

my head that rests on nothing in mid-air. 

Untitled 

When rains come down to flood the town 

And earnest citizens really ought’er 

try to make and keep things sort’er 

dry… 

 I make water

 You can find the complete poems here.

So today I hope Maya Deren will inspire you. I have offered a triptych for you to choose from.  Select a photograph, her movie, or her poetry (or all three) and create a new poem. Please add it to Mr. Linky and please visit your fellow poets.