Image credit: The Elephant The first thing I do: Sneer smirk and all the rest. Too much damage to choose well. ◊ ◊ ◊ Anatomy of a Poem

Image credit: Time.com “Using the difficulty” is a present-moment opportunity to create-destroy-recreate. Here’s how that dynamic” played out in the making of the 2008 film, Rachel Getting Married, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Anne Hathaway. Demme: I wanted all of the music to happen in the moment. we actually did this thing that you’re not supposed to do; we played live music while the actors are saying their dialogue. Hathaway: I didn’t know the movie was being s

Image credit: NoName_13 @ Pixabay.com “This is the heroism required of you: to reckon with the facts of your existence, to make hard choices and to keep meaning afloat even as you struggle.” Dr. Eric Maisel ◊ ◊ ◊ The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression

It is mine to fold blue rage onto itself, silken weeds live with icy green. Lopsided honeycombs in skin folds. How they bring back memories of lotus flowers in Vietnam when my father was still alive. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Anatomy of a Poem

Image credit: Analogicus, Pixabay.com Gaping from the neck down. Spangles hang; knit supports. Quarter-Sized Sequins. She had a dress like this once. It looked amazing on her. She gave it away, like she does everything else. ◊ ◊ ◊ Anatomy of a Poem

Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock.com “Apoptosis is a word referring to programmed cell death. It’s a process by which your aging, damaged, or obsolete cells deliberately destroy themselves for the benefit of your organism as a whole. This “cellular suicide” is carefully regulated and crucial for development, maintenance, and protection against diseases. About 50-70 billion cells die in you every day, sacrificing themselves so you can live better. Let’s use this healt

Image credit: Anthony Pearson, sculpture If your work goes up in flames, don’t fetishize the ashes, is the headline for a section of the New York Times Magazine’s April 2024 “Beginners” issue. The subtitle for the issue is: “From debuts to do-overs, what it means to start an artistic life – at any age.” A featured quote from painter, photographer and sculptor, Anthony Pearson resonated with my focus on the dynamic of create-destroy-recreate. “In 2013 there was an electric

Image credit: Gina Greenlee, New York City Skyline Black-and-White Photo Handbag Use this purse-inspired step-by-step template as a writing prompt. ◊ ◊ ◊ What’s the Point, of Purse Prompts, You Ask? Fun way to fill a blank page. Blank pages keep folks from starting projects. You are getting your “reps” in, working and strengthening a muscle of getting started and getting on with it. With more reps, each time you work the muscle the lift gets easier. For writers, the art

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Image credit: Michael Mundy, 1 st Dibs “…That mezzanine was created because this area flooded entirely with [Hurricane] Sandy. So, we got hit with about six feet of water,” says artist Ray Smith in a New York Times interview. Excerpt from NYTimes article : “The walls are built like I think probably like at least a foot off the ground because we knew that this place could flood, from day one. But [Hurricane]Sandy just completely overwhelmed us. The water started piling up

Image credit: Gina Greenlee, silken blue and pink floral handbag Use this purse-inspired step-by-step template as a writing prompt. ◊ ◊ ◊ What’s the Point, of Purse Prompts, You Ask? Fun way to fill a blank page. Blank pages keep folks from starting projects. You are getting your “reps” in, working and strengthening a muscle of getting started and getting on with it. With more reps, each time you work the muscle the lift gets easier. For writers, the art of noticing is l

Listen to Jayne Cortez , renowned jazz poet spit “You Know” and “There It Is,” live at the San Francisco Poetry Center, 1985. In addition to publishing a number of collections , Jayne released several recordings throughout her lifetime, many of which feature her band, the Firespitters. ◊ ◊ ◊ Listen and Read Bernice Johnson Reagon Listener ◊ ◊ ◊ Toni Morrison Listener ◊ ◊ ◊ Chris Cooper Reader ◊ ◊ ◊ Leonard Cohen Reader ◊ ◊ ◊ Gloria Steinem Reader ◊ ◊ ◊ Tom Robb

Mixed media artist Yemonja Smalls says, “What’s fun about working in wood, especially in setting it up, is things move around. You know, you might set it one way and then shift by accident, touch it, nip it on the end of the table, and things start shifting around and it’s still beautiful. “My process is really about taking something that’s solid – could be a print with beautiful flowers on it – and then taking it apart, deconstructing it. The process is therapeutic for me. I

Image credit: Gina Greenlee, Shoulder Purse with Quarter-Sized Sequins Use this purse-inspired step-by-step template as a writing prompt. ◊ ◊ ◊ What’s the Point of Purse Prompts, You Ask? Fun way to fill a blank page. Blank pages keep folks from starting projects. You are getting your “reps” in, working and strengthening a muscle of getting started and getting on with it. With more reps, each time you work the muscle the lift gets easier. For writers, the art of noticing

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Image credit: Gina Greenlee, paint, ink, marker, collage An excerpt from Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art by Stephen Nachmanovitch: “I have never ceased to be astounded at the power of writing, music making, drawing, or dance to pull me out of sadness, disappointment, depression, bafflement. I am not talking about entertainment or distraction, but of playing, dancing, drawing, writing my way through and out. This process resembles the best in psychotherapy. We don’t

Image credit: Gina Greenlee, Pinterest Mary said, “you need grounding before you take this big trip around the world .” So, she coached me to “create-destroy-recreate” art pieces for 30 consecutive days in the months leading up to the trip. Minimal instruction, no elaborate context, only “ Try it and see what happens. ” Image credit: Gina Greenlee, quick fashion magazine collage Always playing with art , I was open to possibility in the moment without having to know what came

Image Credit: Gina Greenlee, paint, ink, collage For more of my take on growing up on New York City’s Lower East Side: Black and Blintzes: Growing Up Not Quite Jewish on the Lower East Side Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments in New York Hush Life, a novel No Tears for Frankie: A Memoir on the Life of an Essay ◊ ◊ ◊ Take a YouTube tour of my hometown. The background song is the 1977 hit Native New Yorker , performed by Odyssey . The lyrics, shared in this