Poetry Inspiration Cards--My Plans for a Three Day Week-end

Kelli calls them "soul cards." Sandy calls them "inspiration cards." Almost a year ago, I wrote about the process here, which gives you links to both Sandy's and Kelli's postings on their blogs. One of my 2011 goals is to do more with collage, and during several days, I've been mentally playing with designs of cards I want to create this week-end.

Much to my surprise and delight, when I got home yesterday to find that my spouse has been thinking the same thing. He had pulled out cigar boxes that he's been collecting with the idea that we'd cover them with images, fabric, and paper. So, last night I created 2 cards!

Perhaps we've both been thinking along the same lines because a week ago, when shopping for fabric, we discovered card stock that was on sale, so we bought quite a supply. It claimed to be Christmas card stock or winter card stock, but it's plain colors, with interesting textures (I bought 2 collections that are glittery!).

I not only want to create cards, but photograph them and see if printing them changes them. Or to make alternate cards with some of the images. Or to see if I can reproduce them, so I can share them more widely.

I've checked out a book on the latest version of PhotoShop, so if I got really ambitious, I could change the images in all sorts of ways. My artist brain doesn't seem to work that way though. I'm that woman who never rearranges the furniture. I'm the student who sits in the same seat as the one she chose the first night. I'm the writer who resists revision because she falls in love with the original decisions.

I'm also the technology-resistant person who is afraid of complex computer programs until she gets to know them.

Yes, I will post photos. Stay tuned.

And yes, I realize that it's MLK week-end, and that national leaders have determined that this week-end should be one of service.

As a Lutheran and a social justice person, these declarations make me grumpy. Every week should be devoted to social justice, and that's one of my spiritual goals, to make sure I do some work of social justice and/or charity each week (beyond giving money, which is a different spiritual goal; for more on my 2011 spiritual goals, go here).

This week-end, I'll be cutting out images for cards. I'll be sharing them. Maybe I'll write a letter to a legislator. Maybe I'll take some goodies to a recuperating friend. I'll contribute some money to a just cause. I'll read the words of Dr. Martin Luther King and feel renewed.

Here are some of his words for you: "Granted that we face a world crisis which leaves us standing so often amid the surging murmur of life's restless sea. But every crisis has both its dangers and its opportunities. It can spell either salvation or doom. In a dark confused world the kingdom of God may yet reign in the hearts of men." (from today's post on The Writer's Almanac)


Those words were written almost half a century ago--remarkable how timeless they are!

The work we do as artists, whether creating collages or poems or nourishing meals or puppet shows or _______________ (fill in that blank with your favorites), is so important. It is our work that helps people envision a world that they wouldn't have been able to imagine otherwise. It is our work that calls out to the side of people who love truth and beauty. It is our mission to bring comfort or to bring discomfort, so as to spur people to change.

The work of social justice often begins in the dreams of artists. Dream big!