It might be synesthesia. In a storm,
The spectrum, where a nice hello would do.
His green is somehow rain, and yellow warm.
The silence, umber. Undone business, blue.
And paper, colored, dried, tastes apricot,
Sees time run through the window: black, and green,
And flowing to the sea. Some done, some not,
Unsure until he's turned around and seen
A wish, an understanding, in the light,
The din of storm subsided. Silent space
Takes on the flavors granted it by sight:
An apple. Grapes. And colors in embrace.
Then in the dimming light, and evening hush,
The illustrator rinses off his brush.
For Kim Gamble.
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Alysa Salzberg
Melissa Miles McCarter
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If I could write the way you write
I wouldn't have to write like me - wait,
was your mothers' name Hazel ?
Thanks for letting me see it your way DB.
Magic and music that floats through the air
There are pictures so surreal and sublime
That twist and twirl and dance a pretty rhyme
Then feelings that prickle and tickle skin
And, oh, the tastes and smells … Where to begin!
You have a great gift ... and you are a gift. Thank you.
What perfection in creativity there is to be found here .... in you and DB!
The strangest thing came over me, when I read Kim's post ("Still Life"), and if anyone has missed it then go read it now. I'll wait...
...
...It was almost as though the words started tumbling off the screen and moving around, finding each other in new ways. I could almost see them flittering in the air, like ashes in the fireplace at the end of the night, when you blow on them just to see.
Farming "Still Life" for a poem was as easy and productive as farming Dickens (July 11). There was so much there, I felt like I was taking a nip direclty from the bottle, but the bottle was so full that no one would ever notice. The fact is, nearly every word in the poem is Kim's in one way or another. It was an extraordinary post, one of the best pieces of writing I've ever seen about the creative process.
Thank you all for coming by. This was so much fun to write, my hat is off to Kim (and Kim when do we get to see the PAINTING?), and I feel blessed to have even... let's see... a third the ratings he has.
Goodnight!
Ha.
You pm'd me, thankyou.
You asked about my response to catch-22 here - I had no idea, until I was all grown-up and comfortable, that others don't see it this way. It surprised me that even close friends didn't see it.
Just as you have an aural imagination as it applies to music or the way your words might sound, read aloud, so too do many see the words, numbers, even sounds, as colour.
Monday is so clearly green to me - a deep verdant green ;
Tuesday as I said, Wednesday etc., numbers and so on.
I don't think it impacts on my work ; more a way of keeping track - a filing system, perhaps.
It never changed - 406, for example, was always blue white black.
Never much interested in higher mathematics, the numbers still intrigue me. 17 is russet. 21 is white with grey flecks. 995 is deep green and red.
The word "France" is brown, "Holland" more a honey shade.
"Belgium" violet-blue.
This phrase of scupper's : "...then I saw your script." Flecked, mainly blues, brown, a little white.
I'm guessing I got all the colors wrong - reading my post might be as ridiculous as watching an actor play the piano in a movie. So I'll just have to call it poetic license - it wasn't even speculative, I was just plucking words out of your post and rubbing them together.
I hate to get all serious, but why is your avatar now a chicken?
My avatar ? Are you okay ?
;-)
I am so incredibly humbled by the gifts you both share here and though I offer these few words of thanks, really I stand back in silent awe.