Filling the Well: Lucille Clifton, Anthony Howe, and Akeboshi

 

"Zanzibar: Dhows" by R. Boed

 

may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back

 

– Lucille Clifton 

from the poem "blessing the boats" 

 

 

"Sculpting the Wind"

Kinetic wind sculpture by Anthony Howe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIbk4AKFMTc

Step inside Howe's studio to learn how the awe-inspiring works are created HERE.

Akeboshi

"Wind" from his self-titled debut album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaaRwKlcNaA

(Read the lyrics HERE.)

 

April 1: Michelle H. Barnes and Cosmo Sheldrake

April 2: Hans Christian Andersen

April 3: Guy Finley, Anneke van Giersbergen and Árstíðir 

April 4: Joseph Campbell and Fabien Weibel

April 5: Salvador Dalí and Pilobolus

April 6: Jacob Nordby and Talking Animals

April 7: Aileen Fisher, XTC, and Takarazuka Ballet

April 8: Amit Ray and Yehuda Amichai

April 9: Frances Hodgson Burnett

April 10: Frank Lloyd Wright, Stéphane Grappelli, and Django Reinhardt

April 11: John Burroughs and Stunts Amazing 

April 12: Beverly Cleary 

April 13: Lee Bennett Hopkins and Judy Collins 

April 14: X. J. Kennedy, Godfrey Reggio, Philip Glass, and Ron Fricke 

 

If you're here for Poetry Friday, I'd like to draw your attention to two other poetry-related Filling the Well posts this week—one inspired by Lee Bennett Hopkins and the other inspired by X. J. Kennedy. 

 

Matt Forrest Esenwine hosts this week's roundup at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, along with a terrific interview featuring Leslie Bulion's latest science poetry book—Serengeti: Plains of Grass. Also, don't forget to submit your poem to Matt's #PoetryCUBED writing prompt contest this month! You'll find the National Poetry Month kidlit events roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Filling the Well: Lucille Clifton and Erik Wernquist

Syaibatul Hamdi

 

 

Poems come out of wonder, not out of knowing. 

 

– Lucille Clifton

                                                     Poems by Lucille Clifton

 

 

"Wanderers"

A short film by Erik Wernquist 

(Written and narrated by Carl Sagan) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH3c1QZzRK4

 

Filling the Well was exactly what I needed as a National Poetry Month project—I hope you enjoyed wandering through the inspirational musings as much as I enjoyed gathering and sharing them. There's something to say for choosing a series that's super easy, fun, and full of surprises; and where there's such an abundance of material, not only was I able to keep to a daily timetable, but I look forward to filling the well outside of National Poetry Month, too— albeit on a more occasional basis. If you missed or would like to revisit any of this month's posts, you'll find them listed below. I've also added "Filling the Well" to my list of series links in the sidebar to the right. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey and for sharing your comments, emails, and the sparkly newborn poems these posts inspired!

  

April 1: John Muir

April 2: e.e. cummings and enra

April 3: Edith Wharton and Henri Matisse

April 4: Cesare Pavese 

April 5: Anton Chekhov and Cat Stevens

April 6: Ray Bradbury and... cats 

April 7: Oliver Wendell Holmes and Hanjin Song

April 8: Albert Einstein and John Bohannon

April 9: Florence Parry Heide and Andres Amador

April 10: Zelda Fitzgerald and Arvo Pärt

April 11: Elinor Wylie

April 12: David Ault and Imogen Heap

April 13: William Shakespeare and Alice Tzue

April 14: Bruce Garrabrandt and OK Go

April 15: Anne Kent Rush and Bill T. Jones

April 16: Carl Sandburg, Raymond Crowe, and Louis Armstrong

April 17: Jean Houston and Lunch Break Quartet

April 18: John Milton 

April 19: Dante Alighieri, Don Francis, and Gregory Alan Isakov

April 20: Theodore Roethke and Charles Reznikoff

April 21: Octavio Paz and Salvador Dalí

April 22: Vincent van Gogh and Katsushika Hokusai

April 23: Nizar Qabbani and Quixotic

April 24: Auguste Rodin and Jamie Scott 

April 25: Rainer Maria Rilke

April 26: Terri Guillemets and Joni Mitchell

April 27: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Bashō, and Sir David Attenborough

April 28: Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ella Rose Howlett

April 29: Felice Holman

April 30: Lucille Clifton and Erik Wernquist

 

 

Matt Forrest Esenwine is sharing some examples of "tricube" poetry over at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. Join him there for the final Poetry Friday roundup of National Poetry Month.