On art & poetry

Ever since coming back from the States, I've been writing a lot more. Jotted anecdotes, notebook doodles, song lyrics, short prose, etc. I miss the holidays because of the abundance of time where one can write. Because of the poetry module I'm taking this semester, I've been thinking a lot about the creative process & the mixing of poetry with different kinds of mediums... It's interesting, really. 

Before my mom became a housewife, she was a graphic designer specializing in font design & layout. Sometime in the 1980s, her company was commissioned by the American furniture company, Herman Miller, to create something; a designed product to be sent out as corporate gifts. This was what they came up with. She gave me this unframed piece two years ago, & it's been hanging on my bedroom wall since then. 

I can't pronounce half the words on the handkerchief, but I love how art & words were fused together to make the final product, which is more than the sum total of its parts. The way I see it, it's no different from writing Haiku, or a sonnet, or sticking to any kind of poetic convention (like following a certain rhyme scheme, or creating a kind of form). The only thing that's different is that with graphic art, you're working with space, & colour, & the shape of words, while maintaining the flow of the poetry or prose. I've tried it before, & well, it isn't in the least bit easy... That's not to say I'm giving up. I'm trying, trying harder. It's a process. A work in progress.