House of Straw

House of Straw

I enjoy writing poetry using art as inspiration, and that’s what Art on the Trails invited poets to do for their 10th Annual event in Southborough, Massachusetts. I read about the process and learned that once the artists were selected and their works installed along the trail, organizers invited poets to write ekphrastic poems inspired by the art, and then a poetry juror and the artist would select two poems for each piece of artwork to be published in this year’s chapbook.

That’s the sort of writing that makes me happy, so I decided to accept the invitation. I scrolled through the works of art and selected four that were particularly inspiring. The House of Straw took me back to my favorite childhood storybook days, and The Three Little Pigs came to mind, of course. I wrote a tanka with a variation of a borrowed line from Padraic Colum’s “An Old Woman of the Roads” in response to Pam Bonaguide’s work House of Straw as part of this year’s Time in the Landscape theme. 

You can hear the audio clip of my poem here:

This is one of four poems that I submitted for the works of art along the trail, but this one was not selected for publication. I’ll share the poem that the artist and poetry juror selected on Sunday, when the gathering of artists and poets will happen beside each work of trail art in Southborough during a progressive trail walk. Though I will not be able to be there in person for the closing event this year, I’m celebrating in spirit as the week leads up to the closing event on Sunday.

For today, may we all know our own safe spaces. As I see it, there are no safer spaces than the pages of books …..and nature trails with art, poetry, and fireflies.