Poetry from Julie Jordan Scott

"Still, it's a life, right?" a Poem inspired by Still Life, 1907 by John Frederick Peto & Magpie Tales

Visual prompt from Magpie Tales, a writing community. Feeling inspired? Write from the image and add your link, too.

 

Still Life, 1907 by John Frederick Peto

 

 

Untended satchel

forever empty

waiting to be tagged

with an exotic

or any destination

any place

anywhere

please

still, it’s a life, right?

mottled sandstone

lined by eons of slaps

on her beige face

(sometimes ruddy,

mostly a cross between

ivory and beige)

a hat, too small, an

umbrella, unopened,

“shadowless, hon”

voices from nowhere repeat,

“don’t create even a

sliver of a shadow

confusing isn’t allowed,

bewilderment, lost

traces of tracks from

long forgotten pilgrimages,

we want clearly marked

neon sign none of that

esoteric invisible

mumbo jumbo shut

up or someone

might hear…"

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming Spring 2015 and beyond.

  Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

 Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

  Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

  Follow on Instagram

  And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

  © 2015

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New Rendition (A Magpie Tales - Norman Rockwell Inspired Poem)

This morning I was busily working on a blog post writing about ekphrastic poetry for an OctPoWriMo. My primary intention is to preparing poets to write a poem a day during the month of October. I was reading articles and essays and poems on Poets.org and thought, “I’ll pop over to Magpie Tales and see what Tess Kincaid, et al are up to. Haven’t been there lately…” and boom. As often happens, the simple act of communing with art and other poets births a poem (or at least a first draft of a poem.)

The art is Boy in a Dining Car by Norman Rockwell. The boy posing is Peter Rockwell, the painter’s son.

Once I read Tess’ poem (my attempt at coming up with suitable adjectives is coming up blank), my hands itched to pen something, too. To read the other poet’s translations of art to poetry – and perhaps write your own – visit "The Mag" at Magpie Tales here each Sunday for new artful inspiration.

New Rendition

Earnest eyes will listen.

Scuffed sneakers know

The shame of exclusion.

The ripeness of hunger.

The longing to please.

Be heard.

For once

The gift of a random someone

Showing compassion.

Before this moment

Is left on the prairie.

On the way to

Maple St and Monroe Avenue.

-          Julie Jordan Scott

-          September 8, 2013

Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot    

  Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)

Follow on Instagram

And naturally, on Pinterest, too!

© 2013

 

Scattered Attempts of Tiny Voices: #365poems 14/365

Chicka chick A BOOM boom

CHICKa CHICKaBOOMboom

ChickachichaBOOMBOOM

says the two foot six inch blonde boy

striding across the bookstore floor.

Never once does he wonder if he sounds

weird or does he look strange or

will people at the bookstore, like me,

stare and point and say,

“Hey loudmouth kid, shut up!”

proving once again he doesn’t belong

I miss those voices: the high

nonsensical word speaking voices

of my children when they were young and

marched around after storytime

not noticing not caring only hoping

they would arrive  at the Thomas the Tank Engine

table first so they could be like a boss,

only that is an expression of now, not then,

where Chick a CHICK a BOOM boom

would be more fitting.

My scattered attempt to find

kindred parents never quite

took off on those long ago

Saturday mornings

and when I wasn’t looking

my children’s tiny voices

took off, too

Street Lamp: 21st and Union in Bakersfield - What Would Emily Write About This?

Last night I sat at a stop light and wondered what it would be like to sit with Emily Dickinson at this very same intersection. It is a seedy part of town, known most for cheap motels inhabited by crackheads with the main street populated by prostitutes in various costumes with the same comatose facial expression. I was on my way home, a routine, when I opened my eyes to “write with Emily” I was able to see this place differently.

Here is what Emily helped me write.

 

 

 

Street Light, Corner of 21^st and Union

Electric orb

Sharing luminousness with the

Members of the pearly ancient profession

And the shaking, tittering loose toothed

Hungry for the next, next, next….

As well as the cars who have lost

Their way and landed

Underneath you

Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot    

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!) 

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Charmer in a Yellow Ecko Unlimited T-shirt

His voice rings out, naming the middle-

aged women “Muchachas!”

They giggle as they stand behind

The stainless steel counter

Three sets of brown eyes watching

His covered-in-plaid-shorts-ass

Walk out the swinging door

Quiet laughter and exchanged glances

Before keys jangle against his pelvic bone

Announcing his return

“Gracias!” he sings as Letty,

Frances and Elisabet titter,

Shaking their head and rolling

Their russet eyes after he makes

His final bow, before the return

To the drive through, the

Fryer, the cash register

Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!)

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

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