Poetry Corner: A Tribute to Your Own Past

POETRY CORNER

Lioness by Peter Larsen.

– 11/29/17

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

All of us look back at what we have done, sometimes appreciate, sometimes wonder. But a few of us, with perspective can look and honor our past work in a special way, and share it again with a new focus and strength. I admire both of these poet artists (both self taught) for appreciating and honoring their own work seeing its roots strengths and weakness, and stepping forward with new work that springs from their beginnings. Sigrid muses in a very interesting way on her first sculpture in this beautiful piece of tanka-prose. Peter has taken to bringing his surviving sculptures to poetry readings and writing new poems for them. Also he has been posting on Facebook almost daily, photos of his past one of a kind work that includes detailed documentation of the makings, work time and general place and day of purchase. I think you will, like me, be inspired by both of these creative friends, to personally review and honor the work you have done.

~ Kathabela

Wired dancer by Sigrid Saradunn.

Sigrid Saradunn

Bitter-sweet Photo Memory

I kept the photo of the wire dancer
for the good memories it still has.
The project was something I did not
have any conception of how sculpture looked. I had never seen any I could recall. My father ran a Woolworth store, and supplied me with wire. I don’t know how many feet of wire I used, but I do recall his wondering how in the world I could use so much wire on so little a project !

high school art
Mother’s all time favorite
wire dancer
dumped after she died
like she did me before

Artist poet Sigrid Saradunn lives in Ellsworth, Maine near Bar Harbor. She has been a self-taught artist since childhood. After graduating nurses training to become an RN, she continued practicing her art. She still paints regularly Mondays and Fridays with the Vagabonds, a year round group in Somesville, Maine since 2002. On Wednesdays, she has painted for 20 years with the Portrait Painters group in Blue Hill, Maine.

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Old man and cat by Peter Larsen.

Peter Larsen

KITTY ON YOUR BACK (a Villanelle, sort of)
(From “Cat’s old Man,” padauk, 1994)

Mister, there’s a cat a-ridin’on your back,
Diggin’ in his claws and a-wavin’ of his tail;
Big red tiger-stripe, a kitty back-pack.

I’ve got a cat, a long-hair white ‘n’ black;
I’d druther tote her in a box or a pail—
That’s a hefty cat a-ridin’ on your back!

How long’d it take you to teach him that knack?
Cat’s wicked willful, ‘specially a male—
Big stubborn tiger-stripe, a kitty back-pack.

Lookin’ at y’all makes my back-bones crack,
Ol’ guy with a cane, a-limpin’ an’ frail,
Selfish heavy cat a-ridin’ on your back.

Lazy ol’ cat, and that’s a true fac’—
‘F he was a human bean, they’d slap him in jail,
Big nasty tiger-stripe, a kitty back-pack.

Maybe I should lighten up and give y’all some slack;
Not so shockin’ odd on the oddness scale.
Mister, it’s okay your cat’s ridin’ on your back,
Big handsome tiger-stripe, your kitty back-pack.

Peter Larsen is a self taught artist and poet who lives in Lake View Terrace (San Fernando Valley), CA. He was a stay-at-home dad when he began sculpting, while caring for his and Nicki’s (his wife’s) son, Ben, (now a father himself.) Peter sculpted in the garage of the home where he still lives. He says: ” I was lucky enough to have the skill to execute the designs in wood—and handicapped by having no formal training in art, which meant that I stuck with wood and never made a serious attempt to look into casting my designs. I sacrificed actually being able to make a living– for making what I wanted to make, one-of-a-kind pieces that I sold cheaply. I designed at first from photographs of animals and then from my own idea of what poses their bodies might be able to take. I was always aware that no frozen image can replicate what squirrels, otters, and cats are really like, and so I was not sad when I needed to stop and find an actual job.I enjoyed making sensuous designs, sometimes of people but mostly of animals, particularly ones that would fit on a 2”x 4” piece of walnut, oak, cocobolo, or other hardwood. After twenty-one years of sawing, chiseling, grinding, scraping, sanding, and oiling, I needed to stop and find an actual job so that Nicki and I could retire. I finished my last sculpture in 1999.” See more of Peter’s sculptures on his Facebook page, a treasure trove of his unusual one-of-a-kind pieces.

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A portrait of Kathabela Wilson by Sigrid Saradunn.

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