Electronic Poetry Network

The Electronic Poetry Network is a project of the Shreve Memorial Library of Shreveport, LA. I'll let Carlos Colon, the editor, explain what it is:

The Electronic Poetry Network (EPN), founded in 1997 and edited by Carlos Colon, uses the work of poets from around the world. In addition to being featured on this web site, the poetry is displayed all day or all weekend long on an electronic message board located on the first floor of the Main (Downtown) Branch of our library. If you wish to have your poems considered for the EPN, please send 5-10 short poems (no longer than about 50 words each) to ccolon@shreve-lib.org. The poems do not need to be haiku. They just need to be short and suitable for the general public. Previously published poems are acceptable.

This week the network is featuring 5 short poems of my own. There is no online archiving function, so after this week, poof, they are gone. Click the above link to see them. The entire week's worth may be viewed by clicking each individual day.







The no-archiving function got me to thinking about a retrospective exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein that was done in New York back in the 80's. It was put together in a loft space downtown in the Village and Lichtenstein recreated some of his most famous paintings on the loft walls. I believe the exhibition lasted the standard month or so. After it was over they simply painted over the art.

They painted over the art.

A little like the great Buddhist mandala creators. Poof.








Which triggers another memory, this one of a story Gail Levin told in the introduction to her book Hopper's Places, a book about studying place (probably the central character in Hopper's work) in the work of the great American painter, Edward Hopper. The research for her book consisted of going out to the various locales she could find, whether homes, buildings, landscapes etc., that Hopper painted and photographing them. She then compared how Hopper had visualized his subject with its actual appearance, taking into account that things change. She recounts the tale of how she had been searching for quite sometime in a particular neighborhood when she spotted the home she had been looking for. Jumping out of the car, she went up to the house and encountered a house painter. In her excitement she said, " Do you realize that Edward Hopper painted this house?" And the painter replied:

"Lady, I don't care who painted it before. I'm painting it now."


best,
Don