NaPoWriMo – Page 2

Maps

April 12, 2013 by Jes

Perhaps more prose than poem today, more story than anything else, but I am posting it anyway.

Digital knew her human
wouldn’t come to her world.
Her human wasn’t that type of person,
the type to code a life in Digital World
and live there.
Her human stayed in Real World,
and used only a few of the benefits
from Digital World.
Her organizational services were a good example of this.

Since her human wouldn’t come to her,
she had to resort to following her human
as best she could
when there was a signal,
when her human took a photo,
released a geo tag into the world.
She hoped that her human would
one day understand
and join her in Digital World.

She made her human little trinkets of their travels,
maps to go with photos,
boxes decorated with Real World memories,
little photo books…
She couldn’t exactly make them herself,
but in Digital World it was quite easy
to find a human willing to help
construct something in Real World.

Her human could never understand
that she was behind
these little trinkets showing up,
that they came from her.
This made her even more lonely.

Summer

April 11, 2013 by Jes

An intriguing title for a blog post, especially if like me you live in Minnesota. We won’t talk about it beyond that, except to say that my title does have a reason. More on that in a bit.

Today was one more day in the ‘make all the things’ weekend! I felt quite distracted today though, and feel like I didn’t get as much done as I could have, even though I still accomplished a lot. Tomorrow is a new day, however, and even though I do have to work part of the day, I will still have a lot of time to devote to my artwork. We’ll see what that brings.

I did start work on my second triptych box!

I’m excited with where this box is going. It will be quite different from the first, though it will have the same form.

The most important thing to me today is the fact that I finally feel like I am pulling these pieces together into one show with one theme. I know it is easy for me to see the connections between the pieces, but not always that easy for someone else to see. I think I finally know how they will all be presented this time, and that I think will tie everything together quite nicely.

Part of my distraction today was caused by The Princess, who seemed a bit upset by the storm and needed help making a place to burrow. I helped her come up with this little set up, and she seemed to settle down.

She keeps life interesting around here.

I had a hard time getting started on a poem today. I finally ended up sort-of using a prompt from Hazel and Wren’s blog to write about a fireplace. My poem is about a bon fire instead of a fireplace, but it was a good prompt to use. It made me think about great summer nights spent with my cousins outside by the pool.

Summer

goldenrod flames reach towards
the oak and pine trees that stand
a tall guard around us
just far enough back
to not get burned.

sparks swirl up
joining a clear navy blue sky
full of as many tiny stars
as you can see from the city.

the smell of chlorine
burned marshmallow sugar
wine coolers
root beer
wet dog
and watermelon
mix together.

a little further out
the flicker of citronella
tiki torches spot the dark
stone path with light
the glow of the pool lights
casting a neon blue green beyond that.

we swim until we feel
like we will never ever be dry again
eat toasted marshmallows and s’mores
until we could explode
then eat a giant watermelon between us.

damp and sticky i bike home after
knowing we’ll do this all over again soon.

Extra days

April 10, 2013 by Jes

I often find myself wishing for extra days. Extra hours, or minutes even. There has been a lot going on lately, and I have often felt like I’m non-stop-running from job to job to project.

Because of the threat of bad weather, schedules were changed at my day job, and I wound up with today off of work. My ‘make all the things’ weekend started a day early!

I made the most of it! There are now prints ready for my next box, quite a bit more of my wood block engraved, test prints done, more ideas thought, and new artwork framed for the gift shop at Bloomington Art Center.

At first, I didn’t know where I should even start. I still couldn’t fathom having an extra day to myself. So, I ~~piled~~ organized everything on the kitchen table, and picked something to start with.

Before long, it looked like this:

Happy chaos of prints, book pages, and everything else. More of that tomorrow!

I wrote poem #10 today. I wrote it earlier today while I was in between bits of projects. I noticed there were no birds or squirrels out here, and the princess was huddled in a corner of the room. Everything seemed to be waiting. It isn’t my favorite poem, but it is one for today.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere seems to be holding its breath,
waiting,
keeping all of us waiting
for the crescendo,
the seemingly inevitable storm
that will plunge us back into winter,
remind us that the ground is still sleeping
and the growing season is still not here.

We will see what the storm brings tonight!

Dear Tuesday, thank you.

April 9, 2013 by Jes

Today was one of those amazing days where things work, bits of projects are completed, the cosmos seem to align, blah blah blah! I completed the last two print runs for the little book I’m creating for my show. I do still have to figure out how to print the cover, but the pages are at least done.

I had a great afternoon making pottery with my dad. After that I had a great evening with John cleaning out closets! … Ok, at least I thought it was great. We now have a few bags of things to take to a friend’s garage sale next month. Yay!

I am very excited to have a long weekend off of work ahead of me. This long weekend will be spent working on more pieces for my show. I have only one supply run to make. The rest of the time will be devoted to gluing, printing, carving, and creating. I am really looking forward to it. I have even named it the “make all the things’ weekend! :)

‘Cleaning out’ has been on my mind for awhile and considering I did exactly that today, it is the topic I chose to write my poem about.

Un-nesting
is what he calls it
when i play whirlwind
pull everything out of closets
examining the fit, color,
texture and memory
of each item
before sorting
keep
storage
trash.

Teaching
is what I call it.
Teaching myself again
that memories are not stored
in objects
but in photographs
and journals.

Maybe just a few objects…

Day 8

April 8, 2013 by Jes

Among other things, today I worked a bit on the wood block I am engraving.

I also wrote another poem for NaPoWriMo. Actually, I wrote two today. The first one is really one I was working on to tie together a few elements in my show. I did write it all today, but wondered if it should count and weather it is really a poem, or more a descriptive string of words.

Either way, here is today’s contribution to the challenge:

Stunningly beautiful
things can happen in
very nondescript places.
Photos you love
could show scenes
that came
from any one
of a million locations.
But Digital knows
where they came from.
She can give you
a time stamp
weather report
and a map for each.
She can help you find them
again.

And the last one for today:

I need to have music
and the electric hum
of the air cleaner
to fall asleep.
I don’t always have to
see the moon
but I need to know
it is there.
I need to hear
him breathing
next to me.
I need to have
the perfect weight
of blankets
be the perfect
temperature
have a glass of water
my cell phone
and my glasses
right beside my bed
to fall asleep.
It is a wonder that
I ever get any
sleep at all.

I am not pretending…

April 7, 2013 by Jes

…that these poems are good, or finished. Many of them will never make it any farther than this blog, and that is ok. A few of them will be edited, and re-worked and added quite possibly added to something else farther along. These poems are first drafts. It isn’t easy posting first drafts here where anyone could read them, but it also isn’t easy writing a poem a day and for a week I have accomplished exactly that.

Day 1:

The urge to run
Still tastes new to me.
To go get my love
Jump in the car
And drive.
To pick a cardinal direction
At random
And see what it will eventually show.

My muscles tense as I drive
A sense of responsibility keeps me
To freeways and roads I know
As expected.
Always as expected.

It isn’t all that bad
Staying here.
The princess doesn’t like car rides anyway.
But the desire to escape
Only gets stronger.

Someday
I will just drive.

Day 2: (Writing about Digital and her latest persona. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, ask me! Or come see the artwork I will have up in June at MCBA!)

she makes maps
from the photos
plotting journeys
and adventures
making mementos
and journals
keepsakes
a human would treasure.
her treasure
is the raw data
the digital paths
left without knowing.

Day 3: (a long meandering poem)

She ticks off tasks
sets reminders
organizes
alphabatizes
everything she has been programmed to do
and more

long work days end
where i find myself
tired
brain dead
but there is relief
and a bit
of hope.

The urge to run is a little less today.
buckle down
instead
finish tasks
check mark
check mark
check.
maybe it was the sunshine today
the need to get paid
the need to complete something
the need for relief.

Tomorrow is new
and hopelessly hopefully incomplete
for now.

Day 4: (two short poems about Digital)

She wove stories for
Her human
Using resistors
Like thread
Delicate needlework
Her only hope
That her work was
Appreciated
And that she could
Be loved.
Trees built like train maps
Each branch scattering off
Junctions
Cross roads
The end of the line
The tip of a leaf
Routes meandering
Journeys to and from.

Day 5: (a haiku, just because)

Snowflakes in April
Seem not so uncommon here
As each spring day flees.

Day 6: (from inspiration on the NaPoWriMo blog: write a farewell to something)

farewell to the night
farewell the the skyline
lit up in millions of tiny lights
farewell to the atmosphere
with the billions of stars and planets
farewell to the moon
farewell to it’s shadowy face
and farewell to the river
the collector of reflections
gathering the lights in it’s watery layers
replicating the atmosphere
duplicating the skyline
and rocking it all to sleep with the waves.
farewell to the night
until tomorrow.

Day 7:

Today was work
nestled in between
two lovely drives spent
listening to music
blasted through car speakers.

Today was work
stuck in between
the not quite daylight hours
that exist at either end of the day.

Today was work
jammed in between
day dreams of trips
of long car rides with music
of finishing this day
this project this series
and floating away.

Today was work
but I am no longer in between.

Jes Lee