August 2018 Words + Art Reading + Poem

Much in this exhibit featured repetition with no or slight variation. The ‘stop copying me’ panels in the exhibit photograph brought to mind those little square plastic puzzle games of the 1970s where all the rows and columns were filled with little tiles except one and the object was to put the tiles in sequential order. This inspired the poem, ‘wall of 12’, which definitely came through in a specific order. But it can really be read in any order, and it is a fun exploration to see if reading the poem column by column or diagonally or around the periphery and into the center creates any interesting new relationships, ideas or flows.

As written and read at the Words + Art event, it reads row by row, starting with the top row and ending with the bottom row. The top row is read left to right, then the second row is read right to left, then the third is read left to right and finally the fourth is read right to left. In the reading and the shape of the poem, some order is created as a balm for the challenging life experiences of the artist as expressed through their art.