June 21: "The Exception," Visual Art, "Poetry Versus Watercolor"

Billy Collins works on a poem . . . 

The Exception

by: Billy Collins

Whoever said

there's a poem

lurking in the darkness

of every pencil

was not thinking of this one.

I rarely write with pencils.  Anybody paging through my journal will note that I write with fountain pens almost exclusively.  I like the way the ink flows so easily, how dark it sits on the page.  One of my best friends, who is a Methodist pastor, turned me on to fountain pens.  (He also turned me on to Moleskine journals, but that obsession is the topic for another post.)

Not many people know that I also dabble in visual arts.  Mostly pencil and ink sketches.  In no way am I a gifted artist.  I'm passable.  That's about it.  And I can go for months without doodling or sketching.  So it's not a passion.  It's simply something that quiets my mind and, at times, heart.

On the flipside, I have to write every day.  I don't feel complete if I go an entire 24 hours without committing words to page (or screen).  That's one of the reasons I have a blog--it keeps my writing muscles in shape.  I will never introduce myself to a stranger as an artist.  However, I have no problem identifying myself as a poet.

Recently, because I've been watching two British television programs focused on art (Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of the Year), I've been feeling the urge to pick up my pen and colored pencils again.  I do get a lot of pleasure creating visual images.  My thoughts settle when I'm sketching, and I experience a sense of peace.  (I don't experience this state when I'm working on a poem.  My mind remains fully engaged when I write.)

I do have lots of really good art supplies to draw with.  Think of me as a person who owns all kinds of fancy fly fishing gear but is, at best, a mediocre fly fisher.  Anyway, I have a tin of colored pencils that came with a paintbrush.  So, I use these pencils to create the illusion of watercolors.  I sketch and then use the brush and some water to wash the image.  I love the effect, but it wrecks the hell out of my journal, warping pages and smudging/smearing/obscuring words I've written (with my fountain pen, of course).

Today, I decided to use this watercolor sketching technique to draw a jellyfish.  It was going well until I introduced the brush and water.  Suddenly, everything started dissolving before my eyes--image and words and lines.  I ended up with an adequate jellyfish and a black puddle that used to be a poem.

From now own, Saint Marty is sticking with words to capture jellyfish.

Poetry Versus Watercolor

by: Martin Achatz

Paint bled all over

my journal pages--

pink, purple, blue

pooled like a beached

jellyfish, washing away

a poem I'd written.  Maybe

those lost words will drift

across the Atlantic

to the shores of Galway

where a beachcomber

will find them, take them

home, polish them 

into a limerick.