Wednesday Writing Workout: Drawing Inspiration from poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

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Howdy, Campers!

Lucky you!  It's time for another...

Today's WWW comes from Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, whose debut poetry collection, Forest Has A Song illustrated by Robbin Gourley, was just published by Clarion.  I talked about it in my April 5th post and included one of the poems.

Amy calls her project for Poetry Month 2013 "Drawing Into Poems" and explains it this way:

Each day of this month, I will slow myself down, look closely at something, draw it, and take notes around my drawing. I'll photograph and share the drawing and notes here each day. From time-to-time, at least on Fridays, I'll share a poem inspired by my drawings and notes. The purpose of this project is to help me see more clearly and to help me linger on images.  My goal is not to become a great artist, but rather to become more in tune with my sight, more deeply connected with the world, more slow, more thoughtful.

Here is her first sketch and accompanying notes:

drawing (c) 2013 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.  All rights reserved.

Isn't this cool?  I'll bet you're salivating to begin your own drawing now, right?  Right!

So, Campers, Be Amy. 
Slow down. 
Go outside or look around the room. 
Find an object. 
Settle. 
Breathe.
Sketch.

This process may or may not trigger a poem or a story...try it and see.  Stay in the process, don't worry about the product.

Ready?  Begin.

Let us know what you discover. 

posted by April Halprin Wayland with a little bit of mischief