I am happy to be involved in an Ekphrasis exhibit at a local art gallery with writers and poets from all over the country. The poems are framed and displayed next to the artwork all month at Obliq Art, but we read our poems at last night's opening reception.
Fortunately, I was paired up with the marvelous Southwest artist El Moises and he gave me this image ("Jackalope Vato") to write about:
I started doing research and wanted to go in a bunch of different directions. Part of me was tempted to go crazy and have the Jackalope skinny dipping with the Loch Ness Monster and kicking the Easter Bunny's ass; another part of me wanted to explore the possible scientific origins of this infamous creature, etc.
So I ended up borrowing Wallace Stevens' title for his Blackbird poem and calling it "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Jackalope." That enabled me to touch on all the different aspects of this folklore that fascinated me.
I had a great time and the poem was well received. I think I might play around with the title a bit and see if I can find a journal to adopt it.
Here's a pic of my friend and co-host Jack Evans reading at last night's event. He's one of those Midas poets. Any event he touches, turns to gold.
And thank you to everyone who entered this year's Big Poetry Giveaway!
As you can see, my drawing was officiated by the honorable Snoki to ensure integrity. Congratulations go to:
Joshua Harker wins a copy of my upcoming collection The Existentialist Cookbook (as soon as I get copies)!
and Lynn Pederson gets a copy of the debut issue of Four Chambers Magazine!
If you didn't win one of my drawings, I hope you won something on another blog. Maybe you even found new poets and blogs to keep an eye on. That would be bi-winning.
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