Tangles & Tails: Tracey Kiff-Judson's Blog

Coping

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Category: Blog

It has taken me a while to stop reeling from the election results. As coping mechanisms, I have been hiking in the woods, tinkering with poetry, and slopping watercolors on thirsty paper.

I know I am not unique in worrying about the implications of four (and hopefully not more) years of an administration that ignores (or worse denies) climate change. Here are some of my works in progress. I realize they don’t hang together with much of a theme ... just coping.

Draft © Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024

 

 

 

 

And a little butterfly watercolor ...


© Tracey Kiff-Judson

Please visit Karen Edmisten for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup, an apropos poem, and a link to Julia Louis-Dreyfus's podcast with Dolores Huerta!

22 comments

  • Oh, that butterfly! It's exactly the response I look for in times like this. So colorful, so full of more than just pretty--full of flowers that have bloomed. Your ice poem melting is fabulous! Now I want to give watercolor poem-ing a try. But, what takes the cake for me is that ostrich. My SIL lived in the middle east for a time and tutored at a home that had ostriches inside the gates. She HATED those birds...this poem doesn't hate on them but it gives some good chuckles that she will enjoy. Thanks for the post. It's a good one!
    • Linda, how interesting! I have only seen a few ostriches “in-person,” but they do seem to have a mischievous and perhaps slightly aggressive streak. I can see how confronting a flock on your way to tutor could sour your feelings about them! : )
  • Tracey, that butterfly!!! LOVE! Way to use a bunch of poetic tools in the glacier poem... powerful how it disappears! Ostrich is a fascinating fellow...I've written a few poems about ostriches too. Thank you! xo
  • Tracey! Your butterfly is stunning! If ever a sign of hope and change, isn't it the butterfly? And if ever a need for healing, isn't it a walk in the woods and a walk in the words? Thank you for yours!
  • Thanks for the poems and stunning butterfly painting!! All are healing and affirmation that work is good therapy. When things feel broken, make something new. I'm still in shock . . . 
  • Hi Tracey, it's good to read about what you're doing to alleviate our day after day stress. I don't want to watch but feel that I should know exactly what we're up against. I love each part of your creating, but that glacier poem is both wonderfully creative, and also very, very sad. It's all that is needed to show the ongoing tragedy! 
  • I just love (albeit say) the glacier poem and want to know more about the form. Did you create it.  And so happy to see your butterfly watercolor here for Poetry Friday.
    • Thanks, Jone! I started by trying to make the last letter of each line spell out glacier, but then I realized that some of the starting letters worked as well. I hadn't seen a poem like that before, so I figured why not see if I could make it work! Maybe it is a new form - the double acrostic?!
      Ha, nope, not new! I googled it, and there is a form called exactly that - the double acrostic!  : )  I am glad you asked!
  • I'm stunned by your disappearing glacier poem - so creative! And the ostrich poem and beautiful butterfly are icing on the cake. Thank you for all the gifts this morning.
  • Well, I hated the election results too, but wow it looks like it's been good for your creativity. All three of your pieces are just STUNNING! Even your opening is poetic: "thirsty paper" for the win! 
  • Tracey, After reading your post, I can say that you are coping with life in every creative ways. The Big Blue Ice is unique and the butterfly is gorgeous. Your ostrich poem offers an interesting perspective on this animal and life with a positive attitude. Wish the world could be like that!

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