I have never been compelled to get up at a poetry reading and present my writing as a live performance. I have always drawn more parallels to the visual arts, since my feelings and thoughts tend to present themselves in the format of mental images, places, or memories (some not my own). I have been greatly influenced by the surrealist and transcendentalist movements, especially in my earlier writing.
Recently, I had the opportunity to take part in a group art show at my studio workspace, a community of 80 artists sharing the space of two industrial warehouses in Denver. Collage immediately came to mind as a medium for my poetry to be displayed rather than performed, with the added bonus of conferring some of the imagery that I see in my mind when writing.
I chose a piece I wrote back in 2009 entitled "A Deceptive Tonic", partly for it's brevity and stichic stanza format, and partly for it's imagery and the double meaning it contains: the word tonic can mean the root chord in tonal music and the resolution of most progressions. A tonic can also be defined as a medicinal substance to restore health. In both instances, the word can apply to the experience about which I was writing (love/loss). In regards to musical meaning, the progression was deceptive and failed to resolve pleasantly in the way the ear expected. And for the medicinal meaning, the tonic turned out to be bitter and poisonous instead of life-giving.
My intention is to present more of my writing in this format in the future, and improve my visual presentation in the process.
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