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GOOD AND GREAT ARTISTS

ByLee Ann
This entry is part 3 of 11 in the series The Creative Process Unmasked

Artistic imitation is something that many creatives have recognized is an important aspect of the creative process. Steve Jobs, for example, was apparently fond of saying,

Good artists copy; great artists steal.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, England’s Poet Laureate 1850-1892
Known for, among other famous words:
“‘Tis better to have loved and lost/
Than never to have loved at all.”

This is a quote he attributed to Picasso. Actually, an English journalist named W.H. Davenport Adams said it much better in an 1892 article in “The Gentleman’s Magazine.” He was talking about the work of Alfred Lord Tennyson when he wrote:

Great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil.

I had the opportunity to practice artistic imitation during National Poetry Month this past April. In a workshop led by poet and writing coach Sage Cohen, participants wrote a poem a day for 30 days. One of the exercises she had us do was to write a poem inspired by another poet, in this case Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day.” The lesson had to do with engaging the reader directly, as Oliver does with a question at the end of her poem. It also had to do with writing description at a fine, even micro-level of detail, something Oliver mastered in her career.

Coincidentally, a dear friend had just sent me a birthday greeting in the form of time lapse photography that showed the opening of different types of flowers. I absolutely love time lapse photography of flowers! Watching the video over and over, I delighted in the life of blossoms as we can never experience it with the naked eye.

So I got the idea to use that time lapse for the workshop exercise: I would describe the opening of a peony, in fine detail. And I would – what? Steal? Imitate? Improve? – Oliver’s question to the reader at the end of the poem, because I absolutely loved that question.

If I could summarize the process, this is how I’d describe creating my poem, “The Peony”:

  • Something caught my attention, in this case the time-lapse photography of opening blooms. For sheer enjoyment, I spent some time with it, took it in.
  • Paying closer attention to the images, I paused the video to observe the details of the flowers opening. I started jotting down some descriptive words.
  • I studied Mary Oliver’s poem for word choices, ideas she introduces, the pace of the poem. This was more a process of absorption rather than a technical analysis. I got a “feel” for her poem, since I’d decided to use it as a launching point for mine.
  • I drafted my poem (several times!) and found a suitable photo from my garden collection, which helped in the refinement of the words.

This list implies that creating is a linear process, which it is not! It’s more like a spiral, twisting around itself many times.

Once the poem was drafted, one of the members of my writer’s group pointed out to me that my question to the reader is not an exact copy of Oliver’s question. I had not realized that until she mentioned it! So also in the process of creating, it seems that some kind of alchemy re-molded Oliver’s words into my question, formed my way.

Maybe ‘alchemy’ is a better word than ‘imitation’ for what really happens. An artist absorbs what she thinks is fabulous from another artist, then molds something new in her own way.

What do you think about this? Is there really “nothing new under the sun”? Is this “artistic imitation” a legitimate aspect of the creative process, or thinly-disguised thievery? Here again are the two poems; if you like you can compare the two and see how one inspired the other. “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver. My poem, “The Peony.”

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I hope you found something new to think about, through this latest peek “behind the scenes” into the creative process!

Lee Ann

DIFFERENT WAYS OF LOOKING, Part 2

ByLee Ann

Hello there!

This week, I have another example for you of looking at an “old” thing in a new way. This example seems quite timely, as we remain hunkered down in isolation and try to keep ourselves productive, or at least amused.

As an artist, it’s natural for me, and SO MUCH FUN to look at something and wonder:

  • What does this make me think of?
  • What else does this look like/feel like/taste like/sound like? And probably the most important question:
  • What’s really going on here?

Looking at “old” things in new ways is a skill that all artists work to hone. Doing this can be a jumping off point for a poem, a new interpretative painting, or an invitation for a reader/viewer to STOP in their tracks and have a re-think.

I hope you enjoy “Life Lessons from a Jigsaw Puzzle.”

Lee Ann

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DIFFERENT WAYS OF LOOKING, Part 1

ByLee Ann

Hello, there!

During April (National Poetry Month), I took a course with poet and author Sage Cohen, during which we wrote a poem a day for 30 days. For me, was an adventure in reading lots of poems and experimenting with different styles of poetry. But mostly I worked on honing the one skill that is key to any artist: different ways of looking.

It’s what artists do: examine an object, a person, an experience and ask questions like:

  • What does this make me think of?
  • What else does this look like/feel like/taste like/sound like? And probably the most important question:
  • What’s really going on here?

By looking at something in more than one way, a poet can open up a reader’s imagination, or offer a fresh interpretation. She can make connections the reader may not have thought of, or can probe more deeply into a specific aspect of life.

Here’s one example, where I explore “Ten Ways of Looking at a Candle.” Hope you enjoy it.

Lee Ann

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EVOLUTION OF A POEM

ByLee Ann
This entry is part 1 of 11 in the series The Creative Process Unmasked

Hello there!

Continuing with our celebration of National Poetry Month, I’d like to take you behind the scenes and show you an example of how one particular poet (me!) went about creating a piece of what I call “Poetry Art.”

Step 1: The Photograph

Riviere la Peche

For me, the process usually begins with an image that I’ve captured with my camera. This is the Art part of my Poetry Art. For example, this little river in Wakefield, Quebec, caught my attention last year: rushing so fast it cut a line of movement through the frozen landscape. And I thought, “hmm.”

Step 2: Notes, Research and Scratching Out

I always start writing by hand, usually in pencil, making notes, jotting the phrases and feelings that come to me when I look at the picture, or that caused me to take the picture in the first place. In this case, you’ll see words like rush, tumble, foam, power… all words that I tried out, to find the ones best depicting what I saw and felt about the river. You’ll also see some dates and names as part of the notes. I researched the Mill at Wakefield and found out when the village was established, because I knew I wanted this poem grounded in history. My rough notes are here.

What followed was a lot of scratching out and playing with word placement as I worked towards saying what I wanted to say with this poem. Once the writing starts to flow, I usually switch to the keyboard, since I can type faster than I can write. That’s where I work out the first draft.

Step 3: Critique

I’ve had the great fortune to work closely with two excellent writers for over a decade now. Lynn, Jen and I work hard to help each other be the best writers we can be, and I don’t publish anything (except blog posts) without getting their input first. Here you can see their suggestions for this poem.

Step 4: Editing and Compression

A different example of compression!

Based on the input from my writers’ group, I then rework the poem. I pay particular attention to removing rather than adding words. Poetry is an art form that conveys much in few words, and I love this challenge! Poetry also evokes emotion and visuals in the reader’s mind through the use of the right words. Poets (me included) spend a lot of time finding the right words. In this poem, for example, I thought hard about the use of realize versus understand, finally settling on realize. This was important, because I wanted to convey there had been an epiphany of sorts on the part of the narrator, as she stood on the bridge at the top of the dam.

Step 5: Photo Edit

Finally, I need to ensure that I’m happy with the composition of the photo that will accompany the poem. I actually took over half a dozen shots from the bridge. I chose the above shot, but cropped it so that the tree forms a kind of border on the right hand side of the frame.

The final version is here. I’d love to know:

  • Did anything surprise you about the “poet’s process” I described?
  • What do you think about the word choices in this poem? Did you “get” the image of the rushing river? Its history? The “epiphany” at the end?

Please let me know what you thought of this behind the scenes tour of the creation of Poetry Art!

Lee Ann

THE POETS AMONG US

ByLee Ann

Hello there!

I hope all is well with you and yours in what by my count is Week 4 of Isolation (in my neighbourhood, at least.)

I want to talk today about the poets among us. Not all poets live on the pages of thin volumes found at the back of library shelves. Some poets are much more evident, although we might not always recognize them as such. I’m talking of course about songwriters!

Regardless of the era or part of the world you hail from, you likely have at least one favourite song, and likely that song means a lot to you because of the lyrics that go with the music. Yes? Think about what song(s) you’d name as perennial favourites and think about the message, or story, or refrain, that embeds itself into your mind and heart every time you hear it. I guarantee the songwriter is in fact, a poet.

I could name many poet/songwriters who continually speak to me through the words they put to music. One of my top picks: Paul Simon. Do you know his song, “Hearts and Bones”? It’s about Carrie Fisher (of Star Wars Princess Leia fame), to whom he was briefly married. The lyrics are a poem about the ending of the relationship, set on a trip that may have actually taken place, or may be a metaphor for their journey together, or may be both. As a musician, he evokes the sound of wheels on pavement in the rhythm of the music. As a poet, he tells this story in words that evoke images to describe the love affair. You can can read the lyrics as you listen:

So what did you think? Did you hear the wheels? That’s a master musician at work. The physical landscape? The lightning, the burning, the twining of hearts and bones? That’s a poet!

I have one more example for you: an early Bob Dylan protest song, performed in a very early music video. “Subteranian Homesick Blues” is very different than the Paul Simon song, with a much stronger emphasis on rhyming words and rhythm, two other things that poets are known for playing with.

Before you listen, I will add one more thing: just for fun, I updated Dylan’s lyrics into something more topical, called “Subdivision With COVID Blues.” Note the two titles have the same number of syllables, which is something else poets find very fun to play with. (Yes, really.)

Try listening to the song once, then maybe play it again while reading my new lyrics, here.

Poets! They’re among us, sometimes where we don’t expect them. You can always recognize a poet by use of rhythm; words and phrases that evoke images in your mind; and sometimes even rhymes.

I’d love to hear about the songwriters who bring poetry to your life!

Lee Ann

GREAT NEWS! IT’S NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

ByLee Ann

Hello there! And welcome to National Poetry Month!

I know you’re excited about this, especially as we all need something inspiring during this time of physical distancing. To help you celebrate, I’m going to be posting a little more frequently this month, all things poetry! So whether you’re a poetry fan, or someone who wants to be a poetry fan (there are no other categories of people that I know of) I’m here to help!

I want to present to you some different forms of poetry – maybe some you’ve never experienced before. I want to take you behind the finished poem to a poet’s process and show you how this kind of writing is done. I want to introduce you to some poets I follow and whose work I love – hoping you will love them too.

You already know that the kind of poetry I write (and read) is what I would call “accessible.” Maybe it’s all the years I spent writing business reports that had to be clear to all readers, especially because I was always writing about new computer systems and how they were about to affect day-to-day office work at every level of an organization. (Anyone out there remember “Office Automation”? 1980s and ’90s, that’s my vintage.) Like those reports, I want my poetry to be understandable, to evoke an emotion, and ideally, tell a story.

Does this sound like your kind of poetry too? Good – because I’m not going to force-feed you epic elegies, sonnets, or esoteric modern verse that’s impossible to understand.

I want to start with spoken word poetry. Sarah Kay, whom you’ll meet in the link below, defines spoken word as: “poetry that can’t be contained on a page.” In other words, it must be performed. Out loud. There are actually competitions of spoken word poetry, called “poetry slams.” I hope you get to attend one someday!

Meanwhile, to start off National Poetry Month, please treat yourself to four minutes of spoken word poetry. Afterwards, please let me know what you think! And what other spoken word poems this one prompted you to google! Here is Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye with “When Love Arrives.” ** You’ll have to press “skip ads” first**

Lee Ann