Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by the wonderful and talented Heidi Mordhorst HERE. I look forward to seeing what she will be sharing with us. This week felt like a good week to keep busy doing things that bring you joy.. I am cherishing my principals in the light of the Smithsonian news and so much else, and try my best to be kind to others. It’s hard to fathom the kind of people who would remove Harriet Tubman’s prayer book from the Museum of African American History.
I sat on my porch earlier this week. It was about 90 degrees and I was looking for a poem. I found this and drew this picture:
.
THE BRINK
My pen is heavy, full of ink,
while on a shady porch I think.
Ice in my coffee melts and clinks,
and a poem peeks across the brink.
Janice Scully 2025
For some reason I was trying to write a quatrain with the end of each line rhyming. Something fun, trying to create images.
I mentioned I love the work of Wayne Thiebaud. In the book WAYNE THIEBAUD: Art Comes From Art, published by the the De Young and Legion of Honor fine arts museums in San Francisco. He painted with oil. I found this painting entitled “Coffee” from 1961:
So I painted a small watercolor copy which didn’t turn out well but tried again, remembering to wet my paper first, which I’d forgotten to do on my first try.
But I liked my second try:
I’ve feeling a bit on the brink, and finding even a small poem helps me feel more positive.
Thanks for this place of community. Have a great weekend! Thank you, Heidi!
Janice, I love every single coffee cup here. 😀 Poetry and coffee go together (at least at my house.) 🙂
Janice, I see that you are keeping up with your artwork. Congratulations on your poem that is now in Irene’s and Charles’ new anthology. I enjoyed reading your poem and looking at your art.
Thanks Carol! It’s fun having a place to share work, even early tries. Y vest to you and your family.
Janice, I see that you are keeping up with your artwork. Congratulations on your poem that is now in Irene’s and Charles’ new anthology. I enjoyed reading your poem and looking at your art.
I love that quatrain you “found.” Such a beauty, and fun with the rhyming and rhythm. Nice painting too. I learned something today about wetting the paper. I like the brown on your painting better than the original.
Thanks! Denise have you discovered the watercolor teacher Oliver Pyle on YouTube. His videos are very informative He talks mostly about landscapes. Lots of craft.
Three cheers for small poems and the second-try art that accompanies them!
Janice, I appreciate that you are cheered by even one little quatrain peeking over the brink. We do have to keep grabbing onto small joys and pulling ourselves up every time the news knocks us back. They want us to stay down, weighted by coffee cups and donuts, but you are pulling yourself up by the paintbrush!
The link between art and poetry is most apparent in the content of your post, Janice. I like how you reflected on your initial painting effort and how this informed and improved your follow up efforts. Your poem falls into the category of ars poetica poetry, as it deals with the act of ‘making writing.’ Some thought provoking detail here…
Small poems are a joy to read and write! Thanks for the peek into your notebook and for sharing your art, too.