Poet: Joe Wilkins

Did the visual artist refract any element of the poem that made you see the poem differently?
Absolutely. This poem is more or less autobiographical, and I'd long ago let go the emotion of the experience to be able to create the poem itself. But Alesia's print really shocked me into feeling it all again. The blued picture of the two boys and those awful, wonderful bird's legs dangling down especially brought the sad understanding of those moments crashing back into me.

What did you think an artist would pick up on from your poem?
Every time I try to draw something on the board, my students loudly remind me what a terrible artist I am; so I wasn't at all sure what a visual artist would pick up on in my poem! However, I'm delighted with the result. Alesia's print seems to me to radically deepen the poem.

What surprised you about this collaborative piece?
How humbling and gratifying it felt to see my poem become part of such a beautiful broadside.

If your poem were a type of bird, what would it be?
A crow.

If the broadside collaboration were a type of bird, what would it be?
Still a crow, but one of those ones you notice—say, perched on the bare limb of a winter cottonwood or squawking over the abandoned grocery on the corner—on your walk home and can't seem to stop thinking about.

Have you ever written work that has been inspired by visual art?
I've written a number of personal essays and poems that somehow respond to old family pictures, if you can call family shots taken out front of the farmhouse art.

What was that experience like for you?
I find working from photos very liberating, especially in essays. It allows me to leave the narrative for a moment and just mess with the images.

Why were you inspired to do so?
I think a long time ago a teacher told me it was a good idea, but I've also always loved visual art. And after this experience, I may even try to see if I can't begin some poems from prints or paintings, rather than just photos.

If you had to represent the Broadsided of "Meditation on the Treason of His Body" with one word, what would it be?
Wow.

Read any good books lately?
I'd found a copy of Salvation Blues, Rodney Jones's selected poems, at a bookstore in Chicago last winter, but hadn't picked it up until just a few days ago. I can't believe I didn't get to it sooner. Such technically stunning and intelligent poems!

I'm also doing a lot of reading about the Great Plains, as I'll be traveling up the eastern front of the Rockies this summer. Jonathan Raban's Bad Land and Kent Haruf's West of Last Chance are both wonderful.

And finally, though I've read it a number of times, I've started packing around Melanie Rae Thon's First, Body again. I go back to it to remind myself of the power of story.

Seen any good art lately?
Visiting the National Portrait Gallery last month, I found myself fascinated by every picture of Lincoln I came across. Whitman once said the president's face was "so awful ugly it becomes beautiful." Whitman was right.

Anything else?
Thanks so much for the wonderful broadsides each month. I post them on our department bulletin board where they're a big hit with all the English majors. But sometimes, I'll turn the corner out of my office and catch an administrator or composition student studying them as well!

Artist: Alesia F. Norling

What inspired you to "dibs" this poem?
It just jives perfectly with my style of art—dark but subtle with lots of layers.

In what sense did the poem first present itself as a collaboration with a visual medium? Did it come to you first as image? As an idea? Music? Narrative?
Lots of different images—like a mixed up story board.

When you begin a piece of visual work (or, if that's too broad, when you began this piece), is it color, shape, or some other aspect that you follow?
Yes

If your art were a bird, what would it be?
A condor.

If the broadside collaboration were a bird, what would it be?
Roast Duck a l'Orange with mashed potatos (skins left on), snow peas and a big bottle of something yummy.

What surprised you about this collaborative piece?
That I finished ahead of schedule.

If you had to represent your response to "Meditation on the Treason of His Body" in one word, what would it be?
Distance.

Read any good books lately?
The 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith.

Seen any good art lately?
Michael Cutlip: www.michaelcutlip.com

Anything else?
I'm looking forward to reading more of Joe Wilkins' work.