An antidote to the news, today’s prompt is quite fun! I responded to the Day 8 prompt from Napowrimo.net which is pretty simple: “In your poem for today, use a simple phrase repeatedly, and then make statements that invert or contradict that phrase.”
Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.”
Louisa May Alcott
photo by J. Markham
When I began to listen to poetry, it’s when I began to listen to the stones, and I began to listen to what the clouds had to say, and I began to listen to others. And I think, most importantly for all of us, then you begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else.”
Joy Harjo
photo by J. Markham
Sometimes when I am writing, my head is in the clouds. And, I have been writing. Now, I may shift from words to images. These cloud images I took with my simple phone camera, but, I must also paint to really listen, to hear my soul. Below is detail from larger painting titled “Rushgatherers,” inspired by photos of Penn Center, St. Helena, SC (Face of an Island)
(Jacquelyn Markham, poet/painter)
“Rushgatherers,” acrylic painting by J. Markham
Jacquelyn Markham, poet & writer, author of Rainbow Warrior, Finishing Line Press (2023), Peering Into the Iris: An Ancestral Journey and China Baby, among other titles.
Poet Voice 