April 10th would have been the birthday of poet
Bella Akhmadulina, had she not passed away last year. As a fine tribute to her, Russell Streur has put together a special edition
The Eye of the Needle where women writers, poets and artists have come together to mark her first posthumous birthday. I have several pieces of poetry and artwork there and am very pleased to have been asked to contribute. Many thanks to Russell for the opportunity.
I like your blog!...Daniel
ReplyDeleteHi Daniel, I like your art - you are supremely talented! Thanks for popping by my humble corner!
ReplyDeleterachel i'm astonished by the thick brightly coloured threads of creative energy that run through you and then out through your artwork and writing! thankyou for opening my world to bella's writing. i'm gradually becoming aware of the writing world and her piece "rain flogs my face" has a special resonance. steven
ReplyDeleteWell, my dear, you've done it again. I don't have many words yet, but I didn't want to wait another moment to comment with a resounding "Bravo!" I THANK you for the link to The Eye of the Needle - what a rich treasure of creativity and soul.
ReplyDeleteSo far, after two glances, I am most taken with your "Autumn" and "The Old West Riding". I will revisit those and your other offerings many times today. Just beautiful work, Rae.
Thank you, Steven - I'm thrilled to have put you in touch with Bella's writings. She was a fascinating woman.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Les - I think "The Old West Riding" is one of my favourite pieces, too. I wrote it especially for this submission and I might write a whole new collection around it...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Rachel. You are so creative. I thought those paintings were digital until I read the descriptions. Very impressive.
ReplyDeleteThank, Lori. I used to dabble in a lot more than I do now. I'm glad you liked the prints.
ReplyDeleteI like the painting that went with Barcodes. The poem and the painting really capture the title.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mike - Barcodes is an improvement on the funky blog wallpaper right now!
ReplyDeleteThe poem arose from an actual development in my old home town. A foundry beside a patch of woodland was demolished - the workers made redundant - a housing estate built at one end with the developers denying any involvement with the road that had linked to the site at the other side of the woods. At the time the houses were built, the developers didn't legally own the land. Lo and behold, three years later the trees were gone, the road feeding the housing development and the new second half of the estate. See- the poem says it in less lines!
Thanks for reading.
Congratulations on this, Rachel - and thanks for your comments on Russian women poets on my blog - I had not heard of any of the three you mentioned - my reading of Russian poetry tends to be stuck, if that's the right word, in the pre-WWII era. I need to catch up.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on contributing!
ReplyDeletePleased to tell you you've won "My Name Is Sei Shonagon"! Please message me your address so I can sort out posting it for you! :)
You can use this link: http://www.michellegoode.com/contact-me.html
Tim - thanks so much. I was the same - Pushkin, Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky were as far as my Russian literature went. Want to change that.
ReplyDeleteI love the paintings and words! meant to say so when I saw them last week, but i have been an absent blogger due to working on my d hem submission which is now finished :) by the way, your blog header is gone?!
ReplyDeleteMy blog has been totally wack, Andrea!
ReplyDeleteWell done with the submission!
I've been rather absent myself for a week or so - clearly my blog needs me - it's gone to pieces without me!
hanks for the kind words/support!
Such an important voice in dark times. She was one of the truly important international voices.
ReplyDeleteDick - I agree. And now the internet is allowing previously unheard of Russian poets to have their voices heard - who could have imagined that in the 80s?Thank you.
ReplyDelete