Live with Art, Inspire your Life is the gallery's motto!
Open Mic Poetry Night at Pacesetter Gallery sets the scene for relaxation and connection with others through the expression found not only on the gallery walls but through the words of local poets who gather together the first Thursday from 6-8 PM each month. Art Inspiring Poets Inspiring Artists is such a wonderful experience, and we want to share it with you in this blog post about August's event.
It is amazing how we can connect with each other on so many levels when we allow ourselves to speak our personal truths. This month I am attaching some of the poems read at the event and welcome you to come join us October 6th from 6-8 PM!
Pictured Bella Ratliffe reading her poems Fractions and Change.
Tommy Little began attending Pacesetter Gallery Open Mic Night from the very first night. He is a member of the Mississippi Poetry Society which co-hosts the event. Tommy is in his element at the gallery and always brings a treasure trove of poems to each event to share.
Over time he found a kinship on the walls, artwork by a specific artist that really spoke to him and inspired him.
The watercolor, Ice Cold Gin by Susan Wellington, now lives on his walls. He was inspired to write an ekphrastic poem about this piece of art he holds dear.
Susan Wellington was on hand for poetry night as well, enjoying the fellowship and making new friends throughout the night. As an artist who spent many, many hours creating "Ice Cold Gin" she loved having Tommy connect with the piece on a deeper level with such passion, painting the scene with words.
There were more than a few tears and heartfelt emotions as we listened to Tommy read his ekphrastic poem Snow Gin.
We thank both Susan Wellington and Tommy Little for sharing a part of themselves with us so humbly and honestly! Watching a visual artist influence a poet who then influenced the visual artist was a special moment for all who attended poetry night.
SNOW GIN
While browsing through the gallery, it captured
my eye. In a field of snow, an old rusty cotton
gin shivered beneath low hung gray clouds that
promised deeper drifts to come.
I stood a few moments enraptured by that stark scene.
Something about it held me there. That old gin wrapped
in rust-splotched tin sat deep into the frame.
And for a while the artist's name seemed hidden, but
was later found in the fine script of a shadow---
S. Wellington---on the snow-covered ground.
In my mind's eye, I stepped through the frame into
the crunch of icy white. The long, deep foreground
forebade my further intrusion. I regressed into the
years of cotton wagons that waited day and night to
unload their days of work and sweat. Wagons piled
high with white gold yielded their wealth to suction
tubes and iron teeth that tore seeds from fibers
pressed into bales for textile milled warmth.
But now those long years of work are gone. The ruts
of wagon wheels have disappeared long before this
blanket of snow.
The old gin keeps its secrets hidden behind those
walls of tin. Inside I can imagine Time curled up
in its cobwebbed corner, lint blowing along the dusty
floor strewn with dried cotton seeds, swept only by
the wind whistling through broken windows and flapping
sheets of storm-ripped tin.
I purchased this old rusty cotton gin set deep into
its field of snow. It was more than just a painting
though, more than watercolor, crisp with skill of stroke.
For you see, I have come to realize that it is a portrait
of me---the gray, the white, the rust of age; and the
stark loneliness of a relic in decline. Now it is mine.
It hangs on my bedroom wall, a window into the past, a
doorway into what lies ahead. And each time that I pass
by, I stop and take a long swig of that "Ice Cold Gin"
in a fight against Time with no way to win
and nowhere to go. And there's nothing to gin
but a harvest of snow.
Tommy Little
Old Houses Weep
Old Houses cry
Heard not but weep they do
A sadness owns their essence
No longer the sounds of those who once here dwelled
Laughter, arguments, barks of dogs
No longer heard
Not life in the rooms once occupied
Age they begin with repairs the order
Paint peels and windows shatter
Roofs leak and shutters tilt
No longer healthy their death begins
Cry they do for occupants to return
Only to become condemned by emptiness lonely
A malignancy often follows
As vagrants creep in
With defecation and urine their contribution
A sad death it is
When the reaper grim becomes the dweller
Old houses abandoned do cry
Yes, they weep as you and I
When abandoned we too cry
As emptiness becomes the occupant
Bill Gressett
ALZHEIMERS
They went to visit her today
Inside the suite that's now her home
Her favorite things all on display
But deep inside she's all alone.
They spend the time just visiting
Hoping for a glimpse that shows
The one they love is still within
Praying somehow that she knows
They tell their stories from the past
The heartfelt tales that each recalls
Of nurturing with love so vast
Of tender mercies granted all.
They laugh and cry to think about
The times she sheltered them from pain
Held them so tight it left no doubt
The sun would shine through life's short rain.
Though never certain if she hears
Or understands the things they say
Still they come year after year
Each saddened as she fades away.
What chance of fate would choose a man
To rob them of the life they love?
We cannot know or understand
Until revealed in heaven above.
J Gary Massey
Payge Smith and Bella Ratliffe choosing poems.
Talented poet Kanika visits with other poets as we get started back after the halftime wine and snack break. Halftime is a must!
Creative couple Iris Jones and Elijah Harris enjoy a night out together.
The couple met when they were both modeling and bring a passion for photography, art and fashion to the gallery!
Creatives Annalissa Cochran and Susan Wellington enjoying the surrounding art and a fine conversation while Michael Stephenson's exotic wood birds eavesdrop.
Thank you to everyone that made the event great and memorable, each person bringing their authentic selves to this place where creatives can thrive and share their love of life and the arts. See you next month, October 6th from 6-8 PM!
Keri Davis
Pacesetter Gallery