On darkness and light

A perfected world without evil would be a beautiful place! Unfortunately, our world is not that world. Ours is a place of duality: dark and light, evil and good.

But since the darkness of our world cannot be simply wished away, can we at least make use of it to better see the light that exists, too?

“S is for . . . smoke“, published in Lost Paper, 6/26/21: a mini-memoir that seeks to shed light on this question. ;- )

“This is no country for old fish.”

It’s a parody of William Butler Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium”.

It’s a homage to a mixed-media painting by Lorette C. Luzajic.

It’s “Swimming to Byzantium“, published in MacQueen’s Quinterly, 6/12/21.

Bill Waters ~~ Haiku: it’s more than only haiku. ;- )

A little spring nonsense

Little by little, “small” has become “the next big thing”. :- D

To bring popular old poems into line with this passion for the petite, I recast Lewis Carroll’s 28-line nonsense poem “Jabberwocky” into a quatrain.

“Jabberwocky, Summarized”: you can now read in ten seconds what otherwise would have taken you an entire minute. (You’re welcome. LOL!- )

The Amazing Pumpkin Carve 2020, part 2

Carloads of visitors file past 41 huge sculpted pumpkins at dusk at Woolsey Park, Hopewell Township, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of NJ.com.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade — or in the case of the 2020 Amazing Pumpkin Carve, turn a walk-around event into a drive-thru!  :- D

Public poetry had a place at The Amazing Pumpkin Carve again this year in the form of six “gravestones” I made, complete with epitaphs. Many thanks to the Hopewell Valley Arts Council for including them! They were placed near the entry of “Pumpkin Row” and looked appropriately spooky — especially at night.

Gravestone Row. Photo by Bill Waters.

(For a little information on how I made the poem-signs, you can go back in time a few days to The Amazing Pumpkin Carve 2020, part 1, if you wish.)

Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

After the gravestones came a haunted house,…

Home NOT sweet home! Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

…the “welcoming committee”,…

Come on in! It’s a helluva show! Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

…and then the pumpkins themselves! Here are just a few that caught my eye:

Pumpkin King, by Lori Johannson. Photo courtesy of NJ.com.

The Moon, by Anne Nixon-Ellery. Photo courtesy of NJ.com.

Epidemic, by Matt Derby. Photo by Bill Waters.

Peering Pumpkin, by Curtis May. Photo courtesy of Nancy Waters.

Kudos to the Arts Council for bringing some outdoor fun to Central New Jersey during a year notable — alas! — for many cancelled cultural events! The final tally showed that more than 2,500 carloads of people viewed this amazing display!

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Hopewell Valley Arts Council: https://www.hvartscouncil.org

Poetry in Public Places Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PoetryInPublicPlacesProject/

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The Amazing Pumpkin Carve 2020, part 1

Due to COVID-19, the Hopewell Valley Arts Council is presenting this year’s Amazing Pumpkin Carve — a fall festival in Central New Jersey featuring dozens of fanciful hundred-pound pumpkins — as a drive-thru. How clever is that?  :- D

Last year ten of my haiku and senryu provided a touch of public poetry on yard signs. This time around, I’ve created six oversized gravestone-shaped signs bearing epitaphs in the manner of days gone by. Here are photos of them that I took at home before bringing them to the fairground to be set up. I hope you enjoy them (if “enjoy” is the right word for gravestones… LOL!- ).

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After writing the epitaphs, I designed the signs using online software at Staples.com and had them printed on 3′-by-2′ corrugated plastic.

Next, I trimmed the top of each sign into a gravestone-y shape with X-acto knives. (It wasn’t super-difficult, but it *was* time-consuming. LOL!- )

Finally, I took a printout of an image I found of a “flying skull” grave rubbing to a local Staples and had it laser-copied onto weatherproof vinyl label material. I cut out the stickers, applied them to the signs, and voila!

I guess I owe Staples — both online and bricks-and-mortar — a big debt of gratitude! ;- )

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Hopewell Valley Arts Council: https://www.hvartscouncil.org

Poetry in Public Places Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PoetryInPublicPlacesProject/

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