Art & Inspiration

We explore what happens when you revisit a poem you’ve encountered earlier in life. We talk about how questions lead us to where we need to go. Catherine shares her poem “Imago” and we link lines to the creative process.

We explore going within to connect to our creative selves. We talk about what we need in the physical realm to help us create.

Where does change begin? What ideas do we connect with and why? Catherine shares her poem “Bee Hummingbird” from her collection Moon Writing (poems by Catherine, art by Robert Frede Kenter) which leads us to the Rilke quote: Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. Jessica shares the poem/lyric “Room” by Joni Mitchell and we discuss what the words activate in us.

In this episode we continue with the subject of change and focus on becoming. Catherine reads Alice Oswald’s poem “Flies” and we discuss cut endings. Jessica gives us a sneak preview of her second novel Bernice and the Wild Waters which asks the question: how do we navigate the storms of our lives? We explore being a conduit for the creative process and the importance of paying attention.

In the first episode of Season 6, we catch up, converse and reconnect, about synchronicity, transformation and change. Jessica reads Mary Oliver's poem “The Summer Day” and we exchange ideas on how the poem (just) works on so many levels. Catherine shares “I Always Knew You Were a Hummingbird” from Moon Writing, her recently published collaboration with Robert Frede Kenter (art by Robert, poems by Catherine). We are excited to be back after a two year “sabbatical.”

Noticing. Moving out of autopilot. Actively making decisions to notice. We chat about Anne Truitt’s book Daybook: The Journal of an Artist. Jessica reads a recent sensory inspired piece. Catherine shares the story behind her poem “Sleep Patterns for Seamus Heaney.” And we have fun with the word “colloquium.”  Join us for the last episode of Season Five!

We “sink in” to the role perception plays with art and writing. Catherine reads two excerpts from her novels (Quarry and The Most Cunning Heart) as examples. Jessica shares her poem “The Works,” a commissioned piece written when she was Poet Laureate of Cobourg. Plus we talk about portals, paying attention and writing through to see.

We talk about art as inspiration and connection. We share stories about visiting art galleries and our powerful one-on-one experiences with art. Catherine shares two poems that connect to two book covers “Troll Was No Monster” (Winterkill) and “Cancer in the Celery Forest” (The Celery Forest). Jessica shares her poem “Windblown Group of Seven,” inspired by a sketch by Tom Thompson of a landscape she knows and loves dearly.

We explore what this word means to us as creators, from the silly to the serious. Plus the role of intuition, practice and inner knowing. Jessica shares her poem “On Deciding on Learning to Write” and talks about her experience with writing workshops. Catherine shares two poems that bookend her writing journey: “Pupa” the title poem from her first book and “Part of the Song Where the Dead Come From” from her latest book, Put Flowers Around Us and Pretend We’re Dead: New and Selected Poems.

Beginning ideas, sustaining ideas, consuming ideas—how as creators do we relate to this word? Jessica shares her poem “The Crossing of Candle Eyes” and Catherine shares three short poems inspired by her mother: “The Red Element” “It’s Only Her Piano Face” and “ My Suburban Forest.”