Many of you have noticed that my poetry tends to pop up quite frequently in my mixed media art. They are very closely linked. A lot of the time when I’m writing poetry I get a visual idea of what that poem means (to me at least). So it’s been great to explore that with art.
For example, when I wrote the title poem “Yes, You” for my latest poetry book, I envisioned women who have finally realized their potential. They may have taken a deep breath and finally listened to God, or perhaps they just made a decision that helped them discover their self-confidence.
Sometimes it’s an old poem that gets my creative art juices going. After re-reading my poem “On Trial,” I thought of the image of a woman with beautiful white hair. I love how woman look with that. I liked the idea of women with white hair who showed you their strength. You didn’t necessarily know how old they were, but their quiet confidence showed you they were emotionally mature.
With my new poetry book Yes, You, I created the cover using some of my “strong woman” portraits. I liked seeing all these empowered and creative faces looking back at me.
I hope Yes, You inspires people to create art using their own visions of what they see and feel from my poetry. It is my hope that my poetry is accessible, and allows people, women especially, to get into it without having to think about “the rules of poetry” or “what makes a good poem.” It if speaks to you, that’s all you need to know. That holds true for poetry and art.
P.S. You can buy Yes, You at Amazon
