Wednesday, January 18, 2012

God Answers to Many Names



I’m taking several classes at the University of Dayton’s Life Long Learning Institute, UDLLI. For the winter session my focus is on Wellness and Creativity with classes in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, Qi Kong, Forgiveness, and Wellness and the Arts.

This week in my Wellness and the Arts class we talked about ekphrastic poetry. Although I was not familiar with the term, I was familiar with the concept of visual art inspiring writing, often poetry.

My first connection was to recall the Don McLean song Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) where both the art and life of Vincent Van Gogh were inspiration for the music and lyrics. Here is a link to a YouTube of the song with the lyrics superimposed on a series of Van Gogh’s paintings including the Starry Night referred to in the title. 

Our assignment was to select an artwork and use it as inspiration to write. In one of those lovely life coincidences, my friend Lori of Laughing Girl Quilts gifted me with a piece of her work that I have long admired. I was deeply touched by this gift as I found the work so evocative.  The seven syllables in the title God Answers To Many Names led me to compose this poem borrowing the 5-7-5 syllable style of haiku.

She gave me her he(art):
God Answers To Many Names
This day, it is friend.

Beautiful stitched texture enhanced with beads and a shell for the moon