stopping me in my tracks

an afterbirth.

Oh brother, I thought. What else has changed beyond recognition? Virtually every art/photo app I use is no longer what it was. Some are actually better! BRUSHES seems to have stayed the same but DRAWING BOX — wow, a whole new selection of goodies has been added just for fun mostly for kids, but what the heck, there’s a child inside me and maybe I can do something with all those bugs and teddy bears.

PS Express has stayed basically the same except it now offers a whole bunch of new crazy frames which I’ll probably never use as an adult, but teenagers will have a ball with them.

PHOTOGENE came up with a neat set of templates for collage and they’ve improved the text option. So with a little practice, my style may change for the better. And oh yes, I was also able to text with Chalkduster in a lovely shade of pink via DRAWING BOX. The moral to this story is: be flexible. It hurts too much to hang onto what’s old.

a seminar for doctors

on bedside manners

but not a one

shows up.

Get a fiddle
my brain
is not
for you
to pick.

Adding another shade
of white to winter
the gull.

Drawing the hawk
in closer
binoculars.

A chunk of ice
floats by
the shape of North Dakota.

The cold
finds its way
under my coat.

Through the needle’s eye an Eskimo.

Waking me a squadron of ducks.

A pane
of water shatters–
the pond in pieces.

Buffed cream the only cloud.

Seals on the dock
their looks
of trust.

The dusk fades
taking with it
who I was.

The valley happy
just the way
it is.

I follow a creek
with no name
home.

Blackbirds
they rise from the field
like a plume of smoke.

Zigzagging across the meadow two butterflies become one.

On the last breath
of winter
a white crocus.

This stone
in my hand –
history of the world.

Racket of geese shaking the sky.

From under my quilt
the night voices
of geese.

A crow
and a vulture
pass one another –
each with its own
job to do.

 
Wind blown scarf passing geese.

Through spring rain
the sun
a searchlight.

A child’s nose
tugging at a petal –
pink rose.

New binoculars
I can see
way into tomorrow.

One call from a loon lasted all day.

For the last time
the wind punishes
the barn.

Without giving away all the good stuff, here’s just a sampling of what Chris shares with us:

Good poems, good photos and good art create change. They inspire, challenge, anger, enthrall and heal. And the trick is to tell just enough, to say more with less.

“Always hide your tracks,” he tells us. Even though a poem or a photograph may take a lot of work, it needs to look effortless.

Taking a great photo allows us to become someone new and as Picasso said, common sense is the chief enemy of creativity.

“Become a ‘story sponge,’ Chris suggests. Spend time with people who are creative, and listen to stories. And learn how to play and commit to making bold mistakes.

Paul Arden advises to seek inspiration from unlikely places, to look outside our own little box. To study another genre — if you’re a poet, study photography, or if you’re a photographer, take up sculpting.

Learning how to see, that’s what happens when you carry a camera with you. And don’t be afraid to learn some new words

Living the creative life means you will fail and you will make great mistakes. Creativity is not for the faint of heart. And the kinds of poems we write and the photographs we take and the art we make reflects who we are, and that ought to be changing as we go through the adventure of living.

The most wonderful thing occurred! After I dumped the eggs into a colander and rinsed with cold water, peeling was a cinch! Once cracked, the shells slid off by themselves.The trick is to really let the eggs go crazy.One may crack a little, but so what?

In the past I’ve brought the water to a boil, then removed the eggs from the burner covering them with a lid for 10 minutes. It may save fuel that way but invariably every egg I’ve ever peeled using that technique was tedious and time consuming.