Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Wasn’t it nice to have poetry during the inauguration again? I thought so, too.

Do you know who the first President to have poetry read during the inauguration ceremony was? John F. Kennedy. And in case you didn’t know who he chose, it was Robert Frost. A natural choice, being a fellow New Englander and all. But – stop me if you’ve heard this before – there was kind of a hitch during the reading.

Frost had composed a poem especially for the occasion, titled “Dedication.” Here’s how it starts:

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a totally random illustrator feature (as in, the Illustration Junkie just sometimes can’t wait ’til the usual Sunday illustrator feature), but here I am today with German (but London-based) author and illustrator Viviane Schwarz, whose books I’ve never even seen. But I stumbled across her site (thanks to Canadian illustrator Eric Orchard), liked what I saw, and asked her to stop by. (This is the way I roll sometimes, for good or bad. Emily Gravett has sung Viviane’s praises before as well, as I see here, so hey, I’m in very good company in liking what I see.)

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Jules: Yes, Rock Obamo. This is what my four-year-old daughter calls him.

Because Eisha and I are so excited about today’s inauguration, we’re sharing this song, which is by Maddy Wyatt, whom Eisha says she actually kinda knows:

Also, not appropos to that at all…7-Imp has a new mad-tea-party image, all thanks to author and cartoonist Ray Friesen, whom we featured Sunday at our kicks post. And we’d simply like to share it with you. He created this just for our blog, and he even put me and Eisha AT THE TABLE with Alice, the Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse! I could even argue that I’m drinking coffee there at this tea party. (Right? Right. Let’s just pretend anyway.)

Ray was trying very hard to finish it for Sunday’s post, but he sent it after we had already posted. He also said he intended to fully color it, too, but time just slipped away from him (hey, he was having way too much fun at a book-signing, including free cartooning classes for kids, which is way more important than an image for our blog anyway, I’m sure you’d agree). But you know what? We like that coloring.

In the book, Alice might think it’s the stupidest tea-party she ever was at in all her life, but we love this cartoon so much. I believe Eisha’s words when she saw it were: “We’ve been cartoonified by a professional! Into an Alice tea party! I think I can die happy now.” We plan to add it to the header of one of our site’s pages, such as we’ve done here and here previously with those mad-tea-party images.

We thank Ray heartily.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Illustrator John Manders is here for seven questions over breakfast (there he is with Sherman and the day’s first cup of coffee). He can’t linger for too long, since he and his wife just moved into an old farm house in November and have a ton of work to do. And, since John has only been able to answer interview questions “in between plumbing emergencies, appliance deliveries, demolition, unloading and unpacking, and—of course—billable work,” as he put it, I’m even more grateful he took the time to stop by. In fact, about the picture above John told me that behind him and Sherman is the void to be inhabited eventually by a refrigerator. Seeing as how he also just installed a new copper pipe to replace a decrepit old iron hot water line (er, John did…not Sherman), he says that he can be a plumber if the bottom falls out of the children’s book biz, but I hope that doesn’t happen, because I like the energy he brings to his illustrations way too much.

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Jules: You know we like to mix things up here at 7-Imp. Last week, we featured contemporary paintings and photography, and today we switch gears big-time and welcome author and cartoonist Ray Friesen (the cartoon version of Ray greets us here), who draws a series of humor/adventure graphic novels for young children. Pictured above is one of the many characters he’s created, the timid superhero Captain Cautious, whom I chose randomly from Ray’s site, since I’d like to have the superpower of creating a vortex into the ice cream dimension, which Captain Cautious can do.

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Well, I’m excited about next week’s inauguration. How about you?

In celebration of poetry’s return to a presidential inauguration—this is the first time that poetry will be featured at the ceremony since Bill Clinton’s second swearing-in back in 1997—I’m featuring a poem by Elizabeth Alexander today. Alexander, Obama’s choice as the inaugural poet, is also an essayist, playwright, and teacher, born in New York City and raised in Washington, D.C. She has published five books of poetry and currently teaches in the Department of African American Studies at Yale University. As you can read here, she’s “completely thrilled and deeply, deeply honored” to have been chosen.

“…Poetry is what you find
in the dirt in the corner,

to get from here to there…”

That’s from Alexander’s “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe,” and the full version can be found here at her site. Also of interest: Alexander’s “The female seer will burn upon this pyre,” archived over at The Poetry Foundation.

Lastly, this is well-worth your time: The Poetry Foundation’s 11/25/08 episode of Poetry Off the Shelf discusses “poets in the age of Obama,” or “how the Derek Walcott-toting, June Jordan-quoting president will affect poets and poetry.” For approximately nine minutes (audio only), Curtis Fox discusses with Ms. Alexander how Obama will affect not only our current intellectual culture, but the world of poetry as well. Here’s the link.

As of Thursday night, I’m not sure who’s hosting the Poetry Friday round-up, but we’ll get it straight soon enough, I’m sure.

Friday-morning update: The round-up will be hosted by Karen Edmisten over at her blog with “the shockingly clever title.” Thanks for rounding-up, Karen!

Jone has some more thoughts on Ms. Alexander over at Check It Out.

I’m stopping in briefly today to share some art work from Meghan McCarthy’s newest picture book title, Seabiscuit: The Wonder Horse (Simon & Schuster; October, 2008). I love Meghan’s ramped-up cartoon style, what with her bold acrylic illustrations and wide-eyed characters. I’m tellin’ ya, you can spot one of her highly stylized illustrations from precisely seven skerjillion miles away. Does she not put the very “signature” in signature style? Why, yes, I think she does. Am I talking to myself? Why, yes, I think I am.

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I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how pleased I am that my first breakfast illustrator interview of ’09 is with artist R. Gregory Christie. He had me at hello a long time ago with this statement on this page of his web site: “The disproportionate compositions and elongated figures {of my art} are meant to be a directional device for the viewer, my own natural inclination, and a challenge for the viewer to break away from the established fundamental belief that all children’s books must be realistic or cute” {Ed. Note: Emphasis all mine.} Since I’ve always been such a fan — and Eisha, too — I think this is one pretty kickin’ way to bring in the new year here at 7-Imp. Christie, who goes by Greg, is here for some pancakes, eggs, and sausage, which is what he says he eats when he’s “eating badly,” but I say his visit calls for a big ‘ol matutinal feast. I’ll gladly provide the pancakes and other dishes, since he decided to come talk to us about his work and share gobs of great images of his energetic art. We’re just all going to indulge ourselves here. Deal? Deal. Besides, great art + pancakes? Score.

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Jules: This is Alfred.

This is not:

More on Alfred in a minute. But first . . .

Welcome to our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. (Absolutely anyone, of course, is welcome to list kicks — even if, or especially if, you’ve never done so before.)

What you see up there under Alfred is new art work from artist and photographer Vivienne Flesher, who is here to share images from her new children’s title—involving Alfred, as you’ve probably guessed—but who also sent some new stuff, not aimed at the child audience. And that would be the bottom image opening the post, as well as the one pictured below (each actually six feet tall and eight feet wide). They are from Vivienne’s upcoming Spring exhibit (photographs and paintings) at Stir Gallery in Shanghai, based on a series of images she created for the Kennedy Center’s JAPAN! event in February of last year, in which more than 450 artists, more than forty performances, and more than a dozen free events converged there in D.C. to showcase the best Japanese theatre and dance, music and fashion, architecture and sculpture, poetry and literature, photography and film. (Vivienne also did the poster for that event, also pictured here.) Read the rest of this entry »

Recently a friend’s entire life got turned upside down by domestic violence. I don’t know a lot of details, and obviously it’d be uncool to share them here without her permission, but I know that she was very seriously afraid of someone she lived with, and had to get away from him in a hurry. I haven’t known her all that long, but I’m still so shaken by what happened, so sorry that I had no idea what she must have been going through. I wish I could have helped.

I wish I could say this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this happen to someone I care about. But it’s not.

She’s better off than some people who end up in this kind of situation. She has relatives she can live with. She has friends who are willing to risk their own safety to stand between her and a dangerous man. But still… I’m worried for her.

So, to my friend (and anyone else who might need it), I want to say: Do not be ashamed. You do not deserve this. It’s not your fault. But you can live through this, and it will get better. You’ve already done the hardest part. And you have friends, and family. Don’t be too proud to lean on them. They care about you, and they want to help.

There’s no poem that’s going to fit here, but I thought some words of hope would be useful. So here’s a few from the Patron Saint of Oppressed Women, Emily Dickinson:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird—
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

Also, if anyone should happen to need it or know someone who does, here’s contact info for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which can provide crisis intervention, safety planning, information and referrals to agencies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands: http://www.ndvh.org/ (warning: computers can be monitored – don’t click on the link unless you feel secure on the computer you’re using), 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY).