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September 25, 2014

Poetry Friday--Another Ku-do to Emily

This cover has changed about a dozen times, and it'll probably change again before I decide which version I like the best!

Now that I've basically completed the Sketchbook Project poems, I'm getting back to another of my projects, Ku-dos to Emily. Read more about it here.

This project is slow going because I have to put together an illustration to go with either the original poem, or the response haiku, or both. It's not easy! So, there's only one pairing for today. (I'm taking a few days of R & R--maybe I'll be able to cobble together a few more for next time.)



Click on the image to enlarge for easier reading. Poem by Emily Dickinson, haiku and haiga © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

[A little aside: I'm reading Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian, which I'm enjoying. (The premise, however, is deeply disturbing, a nuclear meltdown at a power plant in Vermont!) The main character, Emily Shepard, is a big Emily Dickinson fan. At one point, she tells the reader that many Dickinson poems can be sung to the tune of "Gilligan's Island."

Do you know how hard it is going to be to read the poems now, without trying to sing them? Damn you Chris Bohjalian!]

Laura Salas is the Round-Up hostess this week at Writing the World For Kids.

17 comments:

  1. Oh, another great project! Great idea, Diane. Love the image you chose for today's pairing. :).

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    1. Thanks, Jama! The image is a moosh of flowered wallpaper, and an old illustration of a bedroom chest of drawers. I love playing with effects.

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  2. 1.) Well, as I've missed out on much in past weeks, I missed out on your Emily haiku project! I can't imagine trusting anyone else to pull it off. But you - you go, Girl.

    2.) I think it was Garrison Keillor who once mentioned that Emily Dickinson's poems could be sung to "The Yellow Rose of Texas..." You're welcome. Don't kill me.

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    1. The Emily project will be ongoing, so come back.

      Emily Shepard, the character, also mentioned "The Yellow Rose of Texas," but "Gilligan's Island" is more fun to sing! In any case, sometimes reading Dickinson is hard enough, with her slant rhymes, without trying to do it to music!

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  3. What a cool modern response to Emily's work. Lovely. And yes on the singing. Once you start, it's hard to stop:>(

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    1. And when you have a singing voice like mine, nobody wants to hear it!

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  4. I love how each project you embark upon enriches our sense of experience how poetry and art coalesce.

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  5. So interesting to read your response to Emily's poem--love the image too.
    (And now I'm Gilligan Island singing, "Makes summer when the lady lies in ceaseless rosemary...in ceaseless rosemary."

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    1. I've been singing both songs today, and some poems work better with one song over another. For those who need a refresher, here are both songs: Gilligan's. Yellow Rose.

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  6. I loved your Sketchbook Project poems and I love these Emily Ku-dos, Diane! You are so creative! Now back to the song stuck in my head, "Three hour tour..." =)

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    1. I'd suggest jumping overboard! The only way to get rid of an earworm is to replace it. Here you go!

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  7. I like knowing that I was the lucky recipient of two of your ku-dos to Emily. I love an unapologetically derivative project, especially when it makes something so new again. Go Diane Go!

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    1. I'm glad you liked them. One never knows how work is going to be received. Thanks for the validation.

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  8. Lovely response, Diane-- I can smell the fragrance. Love your layering effects too!

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    1. I've always had a thing for "tea rose." I used to wear it all the time until I started hearing about people who are highly sensitive to fragrances. I generally avoid essential oils on work days. :-(

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