If you can’t see the slideshow, or if you’re on dial-up, go here.
For what it’s worth, this was not drafted in advance. The materials suggested the arrangement of words as well as the text itself. A few “pages” did tear mid-write and had to be re-written. I used almost every scrap of hornets’ nest I had on hand.
A wonderful concept, Dave, realised to stunning effect. Each piece laid out consecutively provides an almost oral/aural effect – it’s like being read to! Superb.
Fabulous! Did you scan these? (I remember you saying you wished you had a working scanner).
I have a hornet’s nest, too. I framed mine.
This is awesome. Creative and very well-executed.
Stunning Dave, visually, conceptually and [ly] executed. My favourite piece of your work without doubt.
if I might be so bold as to enquire how you are producing stuff that just keeps raising the bar……take pity on the rest of us, Dave, please. Yesterday I gibbered, today I’m going to stay composed and just say ‘wow’.
I love the multi-faceted presentation– the mixing of media goes so well with the poem. Really unique, how you’ve taken poetry to a different plane.
Excellent! I love the last lines especially.
Wow. Wow.
Every time I come back after an absence you always have something powerful to offer. I can’t stop by here without leaving a comment and so I always end up taking more time than I have to write things here. Always a joy.
How big do those hornet’s nests get? I take it they were paper wasps? Is this the kind you find under the eaves of your house, in trees, or underground? Have you seen some of the nests of the great bald -faced hornets here in Japan? The last one I saw was about eighty centimeters in diameter! Disturbing that nest wouldn’t have been too much fun. Japanese bald-faced hornets are about two inches long!
I especially love mud-dauber wasp nests. They look like little potter’s kilns. And the wasps themselves are this wondrous, lustrous metallic indigo. Something out of a fantasy story.
brilliant, a wonderful idea that works so well. Lovely blend of nature and poetry.
Fabulous! As was the bubble.us thing, which I never got around to saying. What an amazing creative space you are in lately. I shall come back and read this again later. Still blinking in happy astonishment the first time through.
A lovely piece Dave. Would have made a fine addition to the Transformation issue.
Wow, that is something else! Like nothing else…
I love the god-like grubs swelling in their reliquaries…
Wonderfully inventive and intuitive and a marvellous use of found materials. Maybe you’ve invented a new art form, tailor-made for exhibiting on the web. Think of a name for this art form? Suggest it as a theme on qarrtsiluni?
Well, this is very fine work, Dave.
Fantastic.
Whew! A good marriage of medium and message.
Oh….
Dave, I’d really like to encourage you to learn how to write with a brush, First, it’s less hard than a Sharpie, so you can write on really fragile things without breaking them. Second, you have a natural calligraphic eye. I am floored. As. Usual.
Maybe one of those brush-pens where the ink is already in the pen?
What other Goldsworthian-plus-letters escapades might you get up to–snow? ice? leaves in all stages or colored by cowflap? It will be interesting to see…
Wonderful.
The lack of the tactile and true visual in poetry has always been a small disappointment, (though also a source of wonder) to me. This is one way to answer that.
Thanks all for the generous reactions. Some brief responses…
Dick – I’m glad you thought so. I deliberated over the format: in-post gallery, slideshow, or video of stills? The slide show was the easiest but probably also the best option.
marja-leena – Nope, they’re snapshots. A scanner without the lid down would’ve been perfect, I’m sure.
Dana – You framed one, eh? Wow. Great minds, etc.
Clare – Really? Cool, thanks.
Jo – I took Sunday off just for you. :) No, seriously: have you already forgotten how lame my WALL-E post was? C’mon, you have your inspired days, too – possibly more often than I do.
christine, leslee, dale – Glad this worked for you’ns. It was a lot of fun, in part because I had no idea how the poem woud turn out, of whether I’d have enough pieces for it.
miguel – We have various species of paper wasps. These bald-faced hornet nests are the largest, and can be up to around 18 inches long and a foot wide here. But the nest in question was destroyed when it was only about six inches in diameter, which was probably fortunate for my purposes, because later on the outer surfaces aren’t nearly as smooth and continuous. They typically are anchored in shrubs and trees, though this one was built under the eaves of a porch. I don’t remember Japanese hornets at all, I’m afraid. You’re absolutely right about mud dauber nests.
CGP – Glad you liked.
Jean – I’m glad to have been able to brighten so many people’s day. That’s what I love about blogging, more than anything.
Allan – Thanks. Yeah, I usually find myself posting things in response to a qarrtsiluni theme several times during the course of an issue. I suppose if I were a bit more egotistical I could post links to them in the news blog.
Lucy and Natalie – Oh, I’m sure someone’s done this before. There aren’t too many new ideas out there. “Found Materials” might make a good q. theme sometime, you’re right.
bev, beth, Joe Hyam – Thanks!
Pica – The only brush calligraphy I’ve attempted was in Japan, and boy was I lousy at it. I did a lot of calligraphy as a teenager but ink pens and pencils were my tools of choice. Which isn’t to say I’m too old to learn a few new tricks, I suppose…
marlyat2 – I am not (Golds)worthy! I am not (Golds)worthy! (Sorry, Wayne’s World reference.) I could try some things with snow next winter, but what I’m thinking of might strike some readers as uncouth.
mb – Thanks. Yes, I suppose this takes an opposite approach from concrete poetry to arrive a rather similar end, doesn’t it?
“I used almost every scrap of hornets’ nest I had on hand.”
i’ve never heard anyone say that before! :) you are a treasure. (and a very good poet. love the words in the poem itself and in the subsequent post. love all the wondering about impermanence.)