Thursday, February 23, 2023

Story Evolves

Stories evolve as rich products of the creative spirit. While traveling to Disney World with my family, a window setting without a storyboard caught my eye. Mannequins dressed in late 1920s clothing were looking out at the boardwalk and a water body. I stopped to photograph the female mannequin thinking she has a story to tell. I knew I could create a writing prompt with her photo that would make an interesting challenge for Laura Shovan's 11th Annual February Poem Project. 

Last weekend, I did some research and added photos of a painting beside the photo of a female mannequin (see the left corner below). The other two images were a painting by Edward Henry Potthast, the American shorescape and landscape artist (1857-1927), in the top right corner, and the piece of digital art I created of children at the shore in the bottom right corner. On February 21st, I added all three photos and a prompt to spark other poets' imaginations.

Prompt-Day 21
Ponder the following thoughts:
What if the past and present timelines begin to merge?
What do the images bring to mind? (beach, children, seaside, nature, a vacation, other)
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I enjoyed creating the above prompt.  Because I was so busy reading other poets' poems, my offering was added late. My poems are below. I do appreciate constructive criticism. 

Summering in Style



I just realized that it is the end of the month, and the Poetry Sisters challenged writers to write an ekphrastic poem and use the tagline #PoetryPals. I offer the above poems.

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Tabatha Yeatts is the host of Poetry Friday this week. She is also one of the writers who participate in Laura Shovan's daily February 2023 Poem Project. You can find more poetic goodness from the Poetry Friday community here at the Roundup on Tabatha's blog.
Collage Art Logo by Linda Mitchell

30 comments:

  1. Carol, I enjoyed writing to your prompt, and hope to come back to it for more poems later. I like the perspective in both your poems.

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    1. Kay, past and present moments interconnect in life in many ways. I am noticing that objects and thoughts can connect past memories to present thoughts if I really focus. If you write more poems with this prompt, please let me know. I would love to read them.

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  2. Carol, these are so different from each other! Is Grace the persona you imagined for that mannequin? I think so, but I'm just double-checking. If so, I adore the change in voice from her as a young woman with one mindset of her times to her as an elderly woman looking over her life and family. How we change and grow!

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    1. Laura, Grace is indeed the character I created. I even wrote a poem for Grace as a child. Perhaps, I will share that at PF when I add a few more poems.

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  3. Cool idea to use the mannequin as inspiration. Enjoyed hearing her "speak" in both poems. Love the children playing on the beach paintings too. ~ Jama

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    1. Thank you, Jama. It was a great find to meet Grace at Disney World. No one else stopped to see her in the window but me. Grace stood there as a young lady of distinction who wanted to speak.

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  4. Both capture the excitement, Carol. It's rather amazing how ideas have changed since that mannequin's days. And then, she celebrates. I enjoyed your prompt a lot. It has been wonderful to see everyone's poem responses.

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    1. I forgot to tell you that your link is not working, though I knew to just click again.

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  5. AHA! An inadvertent ekphrastic, I love it! 1930 has a lot of sass and assurance in her voice, a belief that the world is her oyster. I love that she still has the pearls, years later. I love the storytelling that emerges here.

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    1. Tanita, thank you. I found Grace weeks before writing. With my knowledge of that time period, her voice grew louder. Is that what it feels like to write about a character in a novel? She keeps talking to me. Today, I wrote a poem with her at age 9.

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  6. Carol, I had the same thought as Tanita - you had the ekphrastic challenge in the bag with these poems! I love the two pieces you offered today. It's kind of weird that I saw children playing on a snow bank today and thought of the snow banks I played on - 50 years ago! Merging of two timelines! Maybe I'll have to try this challenge! I like where it leads! Well Done!

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    1. You should definitely try the challenge, Carol. I added another poem to the two I created. It's the voice of Grace at 9.

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  7. Carol, I can see why the mannequin caught your eye. Great image! And great poem to go along with it. Do you know the work of the Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla? He was a master of beaches, light, families, etc., and your two other pictures brought him to mind.

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    1. I did not know that artist but I just did some research and his work is beautiful, especially how he captures the light. Thanks for the lead.

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  8. You have arrived at the intersection of Ekphrastic and wordy endeavour, Carol. What a sweet meeting. Your gathering of images has served you well with the voice serving you so well in your poetic responses

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    1. Thanks for you comment, Alan. Ever since I bought my first camera in college for my photography class, art, photography, and poetry were my go to favorite pastime.

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  9. Hooray! Your ekphrastic poem is fantastic...and I'll bet I know who those babies are! Devine suitors? Of course, darling...she's dressed for it.

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    1. Linda, the photo was taken and digitized before the little girls were born. I was at the South Shore of Long Island and the day was just right for catching the beauty of children playing in the water. Thanks for playing along with me, Darling!

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  10. There is such love and voice in these poems and your artwork is always exquisite. But I disagree that your age is “formidable.” :/

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    1. Ha Ha! that word age is popping up all over the place in my community. Unlike Grace 95 is miles away. Stay warm in Syracuse, Janice.

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  11. Oh, what a sweet story you have written about Grace, Carol. I love revisiting her 76 years later in the second poem. Wow. It really causes me to consider all she's been through. (And she's a mannequin, for goodness sakes.) That is truly effective storytelling. Well done!

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    1. Grace is an interesting character. I felt it when I saw her standing in the window without a sign and a man at the other end of the window. Perhaps, it was signal to create a story. I thought of the Lord and Taylor Christmas windows on 5th Avenue due the holidays. There were many years of story with a family theme but there were story cards to bring the windows alive.

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  12. Even as a mannequin, Grace has some sass about her! I love that you gave her a voice. And pardon me while I wipe the sea spray from my face while reading her beach reflection... ;)

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    1. Grace called to me when I passed by. My family went ahead but I kept staring at Grace. I knew she was suitable for my storytelling. Today, I added a poem of Grace at 9.

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  13. I loved your prompt! So much fun!

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    1. Thanks, for Day 25 I just added a poem From Grace at 9. It seemed appropriate after looking at the record cover Linda Baie shared.

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  14. Carol, I love reading each of your poems as bookends to a life - one a youthful woman awaiting love and what lies in store, and then the peace-filled joy of "be-ing" a grandmother in love with grandchildren at the shore. A full story!

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    1. Thank you, Patricia. Life evolves. Did you see the piece on national news last night about Sister Jean, 103 years old who published her first book. I thought about Grace at 100 but decided to leave her as is. https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/video/march-madness-icon-sister-jean-new-memoir-wake-97487804

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  15. I love seeing the progression of Grace's life here. So lovely.

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    1. Karen, thanks for the comment. I decided to create a few more poems with Grace's voice.

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