I’m so happy with the way this renga is working out! I have been flipping through the pictures and reading the verses and it’s hard to believe I’ve written it piecemeal and drawn whatever I wanted each day. (I mean, yeah…flowers mostly, but that’s where I find spring, so…)
Before I started this project, I had three very different projects burning on my mind stovetop lol. Now the other two are safely simmering on the backburner (not forgotten!) and I have a focus. It’s a reminder to me not to let my hypercreativity overwhelm me. Focus. Find it. Don’t force it. But when you find it, you can make wonderful things.
Poem and illustration copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye
This flower is actually only a third of the way done. I stayed up until 2 a.m. working on it three nights in a row and still only got that far. lol. But I made it work, I think. I knew what I wanted in this verse and this flower is actually perfect for it.
Poem and illustration copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye
I wrote the renga out (thus far, I’m only one or two verses ahead of what I post here). I was surprised it fit together so well. I look forward to sharing it in Hypercreativity. It’s not cheating to use it there, is it? lol. I want to see it all together.
On a different note, my drawing has gotten better since 100 Warm Days of Haiku. Tomorrow’s is actually really beautiful. And I had to work hard on it. Not as hard as I’ll have to work on the one for the day after. But pretty hard.
Poem and illustration copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye
As it is tax day here in the States, I’m betting many of us have done a lot of searching for the insignificant…but that’s not what the poem is about. 😉
Poem and illustration by Michelle Garren-Flye
Halfway point makes me wonder. What will I do when this is done?
Trying to figure out where this one came from. Like all of these verses, though, it emerged while I was drawing. It’s also quite pertinent to my life right now. What do I wish for? What are my expectations about those wishes? I’m hardly what my mother once called a “spring chicken”, but that doesn’t mean I’m done with this life. I’m not even really started on the fun part yet.
Last night during my most productive time (the hours of 11 p.m.-1 a.m.) I discovered I’d left my iPad at work. Those might be my most productive hours, but I don’t go wandering the streets during them. (I did briefly consider going to fetch my iPad as it is only a couple of miles away but discarded that almost immediately.) So I took a night off, which was fine because I already had this one mostly done. Still, it made me realize how closely knit my process of drawing (which I do exclusively on my iPad) and writing are now. I had my laptop. I could have written a verse or two. Maybe, anyway. I’m beginning to understand where this thing is leading me. But it didn’t feel right. So I guess I better not leave my iPad at work anymore.
Poem and illustration copyright 2022 Michelle Garren-Flye
I love this flower. In the midst of so much white and yellow, this flower dares to bloom in full color. But it also reminds me of our headlong rush through life. Innocence only lasts so long. And once it’s gone, we are never the same.
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 