Winter Quarter: "The Rainbow Wheel of Death"-Dougie Poole
ENGL 285 Honors Book Project
This quarter, I took a creative writing class with Professor Maya Sonenberg, in which we interviewed visiting authors and special collections specialists on their process, journey, content, little life 'philosophizings,' & more. Working closely with Sandra Kroupa, UW Special Collections, I designed & wrote an art book.
The Project: "The Middle"- Trampled By Turtles
After exploring countless creations in the Special Collections Library with Sandra Kroupa (I recommend everyone make an appointment with her to challenge their perceptions of what makes a book, and further, what makes a story), I decided to create an art book that centers around "homage to place," or in this case multiple places. I treated this project as an opportunity for me to explore the extent of our responsibilities to the shepherding of cultural heritage. I wanted to appreciate each of the places I noted and attempt to better understand how their cultures and stories (often based from thousands of years ago) confront modern issues like over-tourism, economic recovery from war, climate change, etc. In essence, this project was a creative writing ode to come to terms with the intersection of our modern world and the influence of history, art, ecology, folklore, imperialism, friendship, and more from an anthropogenic, observational, investigation.
Below are some of my stories from the piece, as well as writings from the class itself.
The actual artwork was a series of textured and stained handwritten, black ink, journal entries wrapped onto a globe. Water color flags marked some of the page's origin places, while painted mountains, wildflowers, bluffs, seashores, and mountain goats, graced the southern pole of my globe. Alternating sized envelopes and letters secured sections of the earth, each enclosed with one of the 7 stories, and tied shut with a black string. The piece sits in a wooden box, which I bound like a book- the inside painted completely black, the outside speckled with hand-drawn, minimalist 'capsulations' of the stories held inside. The title read, " I remember trying to understand when I was younger, and the best that I could come up with was that sometimes the world inside your head becomes bigger than the one outside… more enveloping." One must open the book, pull out the globe, and begin their journey wherever their hands and mind take them.
Those curious to see, take apart, and interpret the final project in person, feel free to reach out, otherwise, enjoy the snippets of stories from the piece typed below!
If you’ve ever suffered a heartache, you know what it is to dream. One’s heart cannot ache, it cannot know what it is to be utterly alone– to be incomplete– without having endured what it means to be full.
Such Silence, The Sunrise of a Lifetime
Such Silence, The Sunrise of a Lifetime
ENGL 285: Poetry On A Nude Beach: "Someday Never Comes"- CCR
This poem was in response to a prompt for my English 285 class with Professor Maya Sonenberg, however, (to me) it reads more as an ode to my hometown. It's a multigenerational meeting place of new-aged creation and nuanced tradition-- a place of hippies, magnates, naturalists, entrepreneurs, professors, baristas, and life-- amongst victorian era streets and tallship-laden ports. It's a place where I learned to be comfortable. Where environments change, and you let them.
We wake to the stars. To the warm glow of lanterns outside our Yurt. Three bodies cozied by sleep and the mellow blanket of the wood-fired stove.
Apennine Alps, For Warmth
Apennine Alps, for Warmth: "Oh Baby"-LCD Sound System
“You have a ghost on your shoulder,” twinkles through the wind. You’ve traced your feet through Babylonian-like tunnels, enwrapped in roots and vines, and stairways, leading you into the Round Table adventure you chased as a child.
Etruscan Ruins
Etruscan Ruins
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