The 365 Flowers Project

I received this happy piece of mail art from

Jane Smith of CA.

Thank you Jane!

Jane's mail art is always a copied printed version

of her original art work.

So Jane, do you scan your art work into your computer

or do you photograph your work then download it???

Also, what kind of printer do you use?

I'm always impressed by the quality of your prints.

I would like to buy a new printer that can scan overs sized  paper

and also make large prints.

I know the ink for such a printer is costly.

Does anyone have any advise on buying a new printer, over sized or not ?

I was happy to send Jane some mail recently.

It was a "better late than never" piece. I had started it last spring during 

National Poetry month.

I decided to put it on today's post because I think it might give someone else inspiration.

So if you are stuck and plum out of ideas and direction with your art,

try using a poem to inspire you.

This is the poem, The Country, by Billy Collins.

It makes me laugh!

Some quick pictures, then the full poem will follow.

The Country

I wondered about you

when you told me never to leave

a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches

lying around the house because the mice

might get into them and start a fire.

But your face was absolutely straight

when you twisted the lid down on the round tin

where the matches, you said, are always stowed.

Who could sleep that night?

Who could whisk away the thought

of the one unlikely mouse

padding along a cold water pipe

behind the floral wallpaper

gripping a single wooden match

between the needles of his teeth?

Who could not see him rounding a corner,

the blue tip scratching against a rough-hewn beam,

the sudden flare, and the creature

for one bright, shining moment

suddenly thrust ahead of his time—

now a fire-starter, now a torchbearer

in a forgotten ritual, little brown druid

illuminating some ancient night.

Who could fail to notice,

lit up in the blazing insulation,

the tiny looks of wonderment on the faces

of his fellow mice, onetime inhabitants

of what once was your house in the country?

Jane let me know that a few years ago when Billy Collins was our nation's Poet Laureate she attended one of his readings. I was glad she was familiar with this poet and that she likes poems that make her laugh too.