Writing poetry from art ignites creativity and helps you become a better writer. Join Maureen Doallas in this Image-ine exercise based on Lisa Hess Hesselgrave‘s “Plywood Archer #1.”
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Artemis
The tall beauty comes armed
for the kill, always on the hunt,
her cloak loose about shoulders
to leave free the hand that pulls
no errant arrow of sudden death.
She targets with a fury, birthing
and dying her twins held fast in
wrathful sight. Beneath a crescent
moon she worships with a passion,
favors the beasts and fowl — stag
and boar, hound and hawk, the four
golden-horned deer now harnessed
to her chariot of gold. Witness her
bow and swear oaths of allegiance;
bestow the amaranth that does not
soon fade, the garlands of asphodel
that shade the underworld in grey.
Artemis, immortal midwife, she-
bear and virgin, patron of the wild,
takes her stance, readies her shoot.
Write a poem of your own based on Lisa’s image “Plywood Archer #1, ” or choose a line from Maureen’s poem as a starting place. Post on your blog and link to us (we love that), or just drop your poems here in the comment box.
This is the fourth in a series of Image-ine Poetry posts based on Lisa Hess Hesselgrave‘s paintings.
Related:
See the first Image-ine Poetry post in this series.
See the second Image-ine Poetry post in this series.
See the third Image-ine Poetry post in this series.
See the fourth Image-ine Poetry post in this series.
Explore other Image-ine Poetry exercises.
Painting: “Plywood Archer #1.” (charcoal on plywood, 2013) by Lisa Hess Hesselgrave. Used with permission. Poem by Maureen Doallas, author of Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems.
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Maureen Doallas says
Thank you for this feature. Lisa continues to inspire.
Elizabeth W. Marshall says
Maureen I am wild about this series. I don’t want it to end. I am discovering more deeply the connection between art and words, painting and poetry for sparking the imagination. Releasing creativity. Thank you for your brilliant lead in this word play.
I hope we are nearing the ends. I love to discover your poetry written from the visual prompt.
No errant arrow of sudden death…love the illiteration of it and how it rolls of the tongue. 🙂
Maureen Doallas says
Thank you, Elizabeth; I very much appreciate your generous comments.
The story of Artemis is, of course, ancient; I tried to introduce some elements of that story into my more contemporary take. I have an original artwork titled “Artemis”. I’ve had it for years and always find it wonderful to look at.
I think I wrote one other, or, I should say, three different poems for another of Lisa’s works; the shortest is the one I like best. Perhaps that will be posted, too.
Elizabeth W. Marshall says
Cross-bow In Sepia
She dreamed of pulling back, taut and tight
Left eye closed
To enhance the vision of the right
Squarely hitting her target
After days and weeks of practice
Under the cloak of night
Movement by day
And dreams by night
Blurred in browns and creams
Pinks and tans of her sepia colored world
She never meant to harm
Her heart was simply
Set on love
As she awoke
To a slow brightening
Asleep no longer
drowning in her dreams
Color floods her world
Aware
Awake
Drowning out the shades of
Her chocolate colored
Dreams
Of love, of him
Her bow no longer needed
She lays it down
Her love
Returned
In shades of sepia
Maureen Doallas says
I like that opening “She dreamed of pulling back”; it could lead the poem (release it) anywhere.
I also like your choice of the word “sepia”; Lisa’s “Archer” has those reddish-brown tints. (I’m always curious about word derivations, and learned that this word comes from the Gk for cuttlefish, which releases its ink into water. )
SimplyDarlene says
iLike:
blurred in browns and creams
iLike how it makes my mouth move to say it aloud
and of course
how it sounds
😉
blessings
SimplyDarlene says
she takes a stance, readies her shoot
zing! arrow flies
rotation slight because
she dragged release
damn this skirt. she rips
it off, bottom upward
long hair flies
as the jagged Xena the warrior
princess skirt brushes toned
thighs.
her indian friend, the one
with red hair, taught her
how to hold her recurve bow; she even
showed the proper
form, stances, and skills. would the expert
sigh
at this moment caught
as a charcoal shadow
dusted across target’s backstop of
plywood?
or would she rally because miss darlene
busted free of standing rule shackles
and squatted?
she takes a stance, readies her shoot
zing! arrow flies
straight. no sin this
time.
(as a fairly newbie archer, iLike this prompt a whole lot. i, too shoot a recurve bow. in the image, the archer is left-handed. and the way her arms flow, one into the other, like a wide arrow, amazing.)
blessings.
Maureen Doallas says
Fun insertion of the self, Darlene. Just like you to “bust free” of your shackles and show us a thing or two. Zing!
Thank you for playing along.
There are additional images for “Archer” on Lisa’s site.
Take a peek: http://lisahesselgrave.com/-installations
She did her work on corrugated cardboard. I like the effect the cardboard gives.
SimplyDarlene says
Miss Maureen – I don’t know much about art and its terms and lingo, but I see great beauty in her pieces. Wow. Her lack of detail allows the viewer to fill in intricacies with a varying perspective, depending on their current mood. So clever.
Thanks for that link.
Blessings.
Maureen Doallas says
You’ve hit on one of the things that makes her works narratives. The art is minimalist yet full of story, and the story may be told in as many different ways as there are viewers. I think that’s a reason I was able to write so many poems for this series; every time I looked at one of her artworks, I saw a story that simply had to be translated into words.
And don’t worry about art terms or lingo. Art only requires that we be willing to look and see and, if so moved, to respond. And not responding is ok, too.
Thank you. Glad you had a moment to look at her other pieces in the “Archer” group.
Maureen Doallas says
I thought I’d share this; it’s today’s Poet.org poem by Witter Bynner and fits well with “Archer”:
At the Touch of You
by Witter Bynner
As the touch of you,
As if you were an archer with your swift hand at the bow,
The arrows of delight shot through my body.
You were spring,
And I the edge of a cliff,
And a shining waterfall rushed over me.
(In Public Domain)
I like its simplicity and yet depth, and how Bynner translates that arrow’s meaning.