VELCRO POETRY & OTHER ARTSY AMUSEMENTS

A few years ago I helped organize a "Random Acts of Art" series of events in Birmingham. Of course, my contributions revolved around poetry: spontaneous poetry readings, poems left on car windshields, and children's events.

For one of the children's events, I brought a homemade Velcro Poetry board. I printed, laminated and attached velcro to create little word tiles, in the vein of the magnetic poetry kits sold worldwide. But I wanted a BIG board, with words easy for small fingers to manipulate. I loved the result, and the event was loads of fun.

Well. The other day I was doing some cleaning in our basement -- only because it has rained and rained and RAINED in these parts, and all of a sudden we had some puddles -- and I saw that Velcro Poetry board sitting all lonely, its only poems dust and cobwebs. I brought it upstairs and cleaned it up. I mounted it in the hallway between our kitchen and dining room, right in front of the doorway to the laundry room. In other words, I move it to the place where I, on occasion, pop up the ironing board and press the wrinkles out of my favorite little dresses and skirts.

And oh my, what a difference this has made! I rearrange words as I iron. It's brilliant, and I can't believe I didn't think of it years and years ago. Living my poem...

Other inspirations on that wall include a found poem by Robyn Hood Black, a still life of a pair of scissors by middle son, a pen-and-ink drawing of a giraffe by youngest son, an E.B. Lewis print that looks like Ludelphia given to me by Lindsey Leavitt and the very first birthday gift I gave my husband (art with love quotes by moi). It almost makes you want to iron, doesn't it?! :)