The Ghost Between Them

In the wee hours of the morning, I heard from the multi-talented Wendy Lewis at Mental Contagion that the new issue was out. Mental Contagion is an online arts and literature magazine that features interviews and work by artists, writers and performing artists. You can get happily lost there for hours. I mean it.

If you'd like to read three prose poems from Stirring the Mirror that are now available online for the first time on Mental Contagion, visit their fascinating Web site by clicking on the magazine title. I've also included a link in the sidebar, along with links to other online work.

As for the photograph above, several captions come to mind. Here are a few:

1. Her ghost is always between them, whispering.

2. Since the breakup, she feels like an exposed root: painfully sensitive, suddenly blind, anemic.

3. Her life pales in comparison to the colorful lives of her siblings/parents/friends.

If a caption pops into your mind, share it by e-mailing it to cbklu [at] optonline [dot] net. I'd love to post some. Remember the Baby Muse inspiration project? That was FUN. (See earlier posts: 2/29/08, 3/2/08 & 3/19/08. You can get to them by clicking on "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page.)

Photo of Renwal dolls taken 5/7/08. Click on image to enlarge.

Baby Muse Thanks You

As of this date, Baby Muse has happily shared about 136 words of cyber-inspiration. She thanks you for playing along! Special thanks go to those of you who gave back new words to replenish her inventory. She really savored tidbits like bellicose, loofah, jejune, and dawndrawn. She is still chuckling over the creative paragraphs incorporating the gift words that some of you overachievers wrote and e-mailed to her. For those traveling here for the first time in search of her wisdom, simply scroll down to the original posts (2/29/08 and 3/2/08) for directions.

Thanks again!

Underground Sky

Oaks met themselves at the pond's edge. The sky filtered through their branches, leaving bits of blue among their leaves in the mirror. The hand gracefully moved over that underground sky, as if it were pulled by a magnet from below.

Excerpt from "The Hand" from Stirring the Mirror.

Yes, yes, Baby Muse is just several posts down. Scroll away...

The Framed World

Like an arrow, your mind flies through the bull's-eye at the center of the camera's view finder. You aim it through your pupils, out through that tiny circle, into the framed world. You invest that focused landscape with all that makes you human: your longing, your love, all of your dark thorns and sapphires. Hold your hands steady, extended toward its beauty. Make it true. Press the button.

Excerpt from "Black Halo," a prose poem from Stirring the Mirror, my new book from Bitter Oleander Press.

(Baby Muse meditates two posts down. Don't worry, she's still there.)

Baby Muse Returns

Yes, she's baa-aack! I couldn't resist sharing another photograph of Baby Muse. Those eyes. To view a larger version, merely click on the image.

The offer remains the same. If you would like a free word to spark your creativity, just send an e-mail to the contact address in the sidebar. Put "Baby Muse" in the subject line. She will be delighted to e-mail back a word or two or three, whatever inspiration-combination seems right for the sender. For background, see the previous post.

This has been FUN. Baby Muse and I have even received second e-mails containing new, inspiring words to replenish the inspiring words list, as well as clever lines using multiple words in an original way. Plus, we get the bonus of the meandering, shuffling, poetic thoughts that result from handling so many intriguing words.

Thanks for playing!

Baby Muse

For a long time I have been wanting to share Baby Muse's mystical powers with other writers and artists. She has a certain something that is so mysterious and inspiring. Since she is only a head, I bought a little wood and glass display case for her, but captivity didn't work out too well. Instead, I ended up using the case as home for a tiny doll couple who sit inside on a bed of moss, staring out into the room from their eternal picnic. I'm still searching for the right setting for Baby Muse. Perhaps she's more of a wanderer, like the creative process. This afternoon I took her outside in the glittering snow for a photo shoot. I picked her a bouquet of icicles. She was awestruck. Just look at that radiant face!

Once upon a time there was going to be a Baby Muse "machine." I planned to put her and her accompanying assemblage somewhere where she could offer beautiful words and phrases to interested parties. I planned to write the intriguing words she whispered in India ink, on slips of pale gold parchment. I have lovely old-fashioned dipping pens which make gorgeous deep black lines. Maybe I'll still do that.

Meanwhile, here's part of the original directions/prose poem that were to accompany the Baby Muse machine:
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Baby Muse!

Transfuse Her Energy.

Her cracked fontanel

is an infinite well

of electricity.

Steal a spark of her creativity.

Inspiration guaranteed.

You may bask in her aura for FREE.

You may inhale her essence for FREE.

You may absorb her blue gaze for FREE.

Baby Muse’s First Words

To Amuse and Inspire

A Wee Spark to Start a Fire

in Your Brain

Select One, Do with It What You Will

One Precious Word per Human

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Do you think this could work online? I mean, you're right here, reading this -- you're probably a writer in search of inspiration yourself. Or an artist looking for a way into a new piece. Let's try something. If you send me an e-mail with "Baby Muse" typed in the subject line, I will e-mail you back one delicious and free word from Baby Muse's four page (so far) list. I know it won't be written in India ink on parchment, but let's see where it takes you. My contact information is listed in the sidebar.

Are you ready to be inspired? Happy Leap Year.