Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting at The Poetry Farm Here. Thank you for hosting, Amy! I look forward to her post, as they are always fun and inspire creativity.
This week I have been thinking about mistakes, and our hypocritical government. Not a topic for a blog for kids. Still kids eventually come to learn that others, even those we are supposed to admire, don’t always practice what they preach. I came up with this poem.
FARSIGHTED
Shading our own mistakes
in hazy tones,
we see mistakes others make
but not our own
and who can see clearly
perched on a throne?
©Janice Scully
In the U.S., a lawless government is demanding citizens obey the law. It’s nothing new to the world. It’s part of a playbook. Our government is becoming like a high-rise built with weak cement.
Fortunately, to keep hopeful, I get updates about my grandson learning how to walk. What’s better than a baby? To walk, of course, a baby needs a floor that doesn’t move.
I have also been practicing “Urban Sketching” which is black ink drawing with a wash of loose watercolor. On YouTube you can see some great sketching on Toby’s Urban Sketching. It’s a forgiving art form, thankfully. Below is a small shed I discovered in my neighborhood. It looks a lot more interesting in watercolor than in real life.
On the right border is a haiku that I wrote that day thinking about the news.
Fighting everywhere
Minneapolis suffers
more than frigid cold
© Janice Scully
Have a good weekend in spite of the cold. Stay safe. Here in New York we expect another week of very cold weather. Thank you, Amy for hosting!
Strong poem Janice and I love your pen and ink and watercolor–have fun with it!
We have that cold weather in Chicago too, hope it leaves both our states soon, thanks!
The watercolors on your blog take my breath away. I may have to use some for practice as mentor pieces. I tried to comment there but didn’t figure out how to. 🙂 Congrats on your upcoming shows. That’s really exciting!
Janice, your poems are amazing, as is your sketch. I don’t think I’ve read a poem on the topic of seeing our own mistakes but not others’ mistakes and I was blown away by it timely truths. I love the ending stanza and thw image of a king on a throne! Thank you!
Your first poem is for kids! It’s very humpty-dumpty. Well done. And, look at that gorgeous urban sketch. I love it. How fun! I’m so grateful for the class and the determination Minnesotans have shared with us all…even in their frigid temps. They are the right stuff.
Your poems speak such truths, Janice. And I so love that drawing! Thanks for sharing it here.
Janice, your first poem packs a punch. The last stanza is perfection. Thank you for sharing your urban sketching with us. I’m so intimidated by watercolor!
Janice, what are my loves in your post?
-Our government is becoming like a high-rise built with weak cement.
-the beautifully rendered artwork
-the haiku that leaves a sting
-your reminder of Syracuse’s c-o-l-d
“who can see clearly
perched on a throne?”– an excellent question!
Love your watercolor! I had to laugh that “It looks a lot more interesting in watercolor than in real life.” Thanks for your yen for justice, Janice. xo
As Mona noted, your poems possess a timely truth, Janice. Unambiguous truth at that. We writte best when we seek out what is foremost in our minds and hearts. Love the urban sketching using black ink and wash. it adds a further dimension to your identity as a creative.
Oh, Janice. Thank you for writing to this moment. My heart is just constantly in my throat.
Janice, I just came from Mary Lee’s, and the perspective of creativity as a form of resistance. Yes, and thank you.
Your poem is spot-on, Janice.
I turn to my grandson these days, too –for a spate of silly and hopefulness and joy.
I love watching your watercolor play. One of my sister’s has taken up watercolor since retiring last year and I’m sharing your resource references with her. Thank you!
“and who can see clearly/perched on a throne? ” is absolutely the question of the week. Thanks for sharing your work with us.
I admire your urban sketching/watercolor! I look forward to doing the same once the snow and cold leave! Capturing some writing alongside your art adds depth to both practices.
Oh no one. No one can see clearly/perched on a throne. What a line. And your shed! The juxtaposition of such a lovely little watercolor scene with these hard truths of now is how I feel inside. Knitting and baking and mourning. xo for the week ahead. a.
Thank you, Janice! I really love that you are urban sketching (a term new to me, but I love it). And yes to not being perched on a throne.