Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Little Boxes


Last week I won a $20 Amazon gift certificate in a cento contest at Inside the Writer's Studio. It was so interesting to write a cento. It's like a collage, or scavenger hunt, or a roll of the dice. In some ways at the beginning the poem assembles itself. Then there's the luck of finding the right line, or there's the idea and going in search of a way to cement it.

Anyway I went combing through my wish list thinking I could get a couple poetry books. I did a little mix-n-match of titles and kept thinking there had to be something else out there to occupy me. Finally, after running into three or four separate references to the collage artist Joseph Cornell in the last month, I decided to get a book about him and his work. I love what I've seen of his, though I never have seen anything besides in pictures. Maybe next time I'm in New York.

The book I ordered is Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams. There's an interesting article from the New Yorker about him here. The box above is "Medici Princess," one of his most well known "boxes." I took it from a site called Artchive. Click on it to see an enlarged image. I recommend doing so...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful graphic, Sarah. And thank you for the links. The article was very interesting as you said. It sounds like you chose a good book. Congratulations, by the way, for winning a prize in the cento contest. What I like about the form is all the extra poetry it gets me into.

johanna

SarahJane said...

Hi Johanna -
yes, that's an enchanting one, no?
sometimes you need something other than a poetry book.
i hope I'll see one of your centos...
cheers

KL said...

I saw your cento and challenge at the forum, then I wrote one. LOL and found I haven't a membership, or else I forgot my user info... I don't know. I have been so out-of-it lately-- hopefully it's just the weather.

But yes, good stuff here, Sarah, as usual.

(((smile)))
K

KL said...

nevermind-- LOL I had a membership afterall.

Cheese and crackers!

(((smile)))

sam of the ten thousand things said...

Cornell is wonderful. I agree about needing something other than a poetry book. Sometimes the poetry gets in the way of the poetry.

SarahJane said...

hi karen,
i saw you got in. great.

hi sam,
yes, not that i don't always have poetry books on my wish list. Cornell has amazing appeal, like a folk artist or naive painter, but also like the surrealists.
looking forward to getting my book.

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