Thought for the Day

More than half the world is covered by water,

yet most of us are afraid of drowning.

~ Todd Davis

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Quoted from Todd Davis, "First Thoughts about God after Spying a Speckled Trout Eat a Green Drake" in Image, Fall 2018, No. 98, page 102

Todd Davis, Poet; Professor of English and Environmental Studies, Pennsylvania State University (Altoona College)

Todd Davis at Image and Poetry Foundation

Saturday Short

Enjoy this Saturday short, a look at Dana Gioia's "Progress Report". The poetry video is from Blank Verse Films and was made in California's Sonoma County.

New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life

Jeanie Tomanek, Paper Doll, 2017

Oil, 40" x 30"

© Jeanie Tomanek

PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGE

It is my delight today to present in this month's Artist Watch column images of some of the unique and often-moving paintings of self-taught artist Jeanie Tomanek of Marietta, Georgia.

Jeanie, who began a full-time career as an artist at age 50, is drawn to literature, folk-tales, and myths that inspire her to explore the feminine archetype. She uses trees, flowers, birds, and snow as symbols for emotional states or story elements.

Today's Artist Watch column showcases images of eight recent paintings, Jeanie's Artist Statement, and a brief biography, as well as Jeanie's social media. Her commanding work rewards viewers willing to look slowly and carefully at the figures who represent "Everywoman".

Thought for the Day

. . . Reading a life is like reading a poem—

full of ambiguity, which involves consciousness

that we are reading. . . .

~ David Mason

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Quoted from David Mason, "Neruda's Voice" (Book Review), The Hudson Review, August 2018

David Mason, American Poet, Essayist, Editor, Teacher; Former Poet Laureate of Colorado

David Mason's numerous poetry collections include The Sound: New & Selected Poems (2018), Sea Salt, Poems of a Decade: 2004-2014 (2014), Arrivals (2004), The Country I Remember (1996), and The Buried Houses (1991). He also is the author of the verse novel Ludlow (2007; 2nd ed., 2010), the literary memoir News from the Village (2010), and the essay collections The Poetry of Life and the Life of Poetry (1999) and Two Minds of a Western Poet (2011).

David Mason Interview at Connotation Press (September 2018)

A funeral . . . (Poem)

A funeral can turn you

inside out,
leave you questioning

the love
you could measure

by distance traveled,
calls made,

the daily accounting
of weather.

Whatever's changed
should be forgiven

but tell me how
does the heart forget

it's been broken.

Thought for the Day

. . . [A] meter-high fence is not a sign of strength but a sign

of fear. A sign of the fear of being questioned. Fear of loss,

poverty, and death. That is our fear, and it is no different

from the fear of the people on the other side of the fence. . . .

~ Jenny Erpenbeck

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Quoted from Jenny Erpenbeck, "Blind Spots: The 2018 Puterbaugh Keynote" in World Literature Today, July-August 2018, page 63

Jenny Erpenbeck, Award-Winning German Writer, Opera Director (Erpenbeck's most recent novel is Go, Went, Gone (2015; New Directions Reprint, 2017), awarded the Thomas Mann Prize and the Permio Strega Europeo.)

James Wood, "A Novelist's Powerful Response to the Refugee Crisis",  The New Yorker, September 25, 2017 (This article is about Go, Went, Gone, as translated by Susan Bernofsky.)

The Puterbaugh Festival of International Literature & Culture

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Love is a door.

~ Daniel Priest

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Quoted from Daniel Priest's Poem "I Stand and Knock" in Image, No. 97, Summer 2018, page 86

Daniel Priest, Austin-Based Poet, Associate Editor at Borderlands, and Master Arborist

Thought for the Day

[. . .]we now pass on, so that even at the end

of time, even in what looks like silence,

even in the quietest sense of disappearance,

even in the far distance of times beyond

our present understanding, we will be remembered

in the way others still live, and still live on, in our love.

~ David Whyte

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Quoted from David Whyte, "Everlasting" in The Bell and the Blackbird (Many Rivers Press, 2018)

David Whyte,  Poet, Author, Speaker; Associate Fellow, Said Business School, University of Oxford

Listen to David Whyte's interview at the Poets Cafe, July 29, 2018.

New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life

Gail Nadeau, Collage No. 1

Gail Nadeau, Collage No. 2

© Gail Nadeau

PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGES

This month's Artist Watch column at Escape Into Life presents images from illustrator Gail Nadeau's lovely Dresses series. 

Gail, who grew up on her grandfather's farm in Voorheesville, New York, is best known for her photography and mixed media work, which includes 100 Angels, a portfolio of small, over-painted photographs, and Notebook, a series of enlarged and re-worked images originally collaged in a watercolor notebook.

Today's Artist Watch presents seven images from Gail's Dresses series, her Artist Statement, and a brief biography.

Thought for the Day

[. . .] the edge is a creative place to be—

a place from which to see the whole field—

and to empathize with those who are not sure where they belong.

~ Barbara Brown Taylor

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Quoted from "A Conversation with Barbara Brown Taylor", Interview, Image, No. 97, Summer 2018

Barbara Brown Taylor, Writer, Speaker, and "Spiritual Contrarian" (Episcopal Priest)

Taylor's forthcoming book is Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others (HarperOne, April 2019).

Barbara Brown Taylor on FaceBook