The unofficial mascot of our annual art-poetry pairing is Carole Plante’s amazing surrealistic painting which we have nicknamed “Propeller Girl”! Carole painted this as a fun project. She had her painting materials out while she was talking on the phone with a friend. Without telling her friend what she was doing, Carole asked her friend for two nouns. The friend obliged. Later in the conversation, Carole asked the friend for two more nouns, and so on. Each noun got incorporated into the painting as they went.
Carole’s husband Evan is a well-known local poet. Evan then wrote a poem to go with Carol’s fun painting.
Here are the results!
source artwork:
poetry response:
Propeller Girl
by Evan Plante
Whither goest thou, fair one…
with thine colander hat and propeller lavaliere?
I know your secrets, vixen…
with your faraway look and your winsome gaze.
You have captured my soul today.
I get it, by the way…
that life is more an explosion
than a stream (although both are true).
But you… well… you know my truth, too
— and that scares me a bit!
But I feel brave today, so slide on over.
Let’s touch hips and not let anyone know.
Let’s have a secret love…
one that steams the place up —
one that embarrasses the kids!
But before we run headlong together, know this:
Living in the moment is not for the feint hearted!
Indeed, it takes courage to live directly every day.
But whatever the future holds for us, oh Lady of Whimsey,
I vow to be worthy of your colander.