Solemnly he whispers

reflecting on "joy" with a K-drama inspired poem and the start of new collage art

Solemnly he whispers

a rhythmic litany
pecan pie, butterfly
thistledown and coffee.

Each word a note
punctuating a memory
of family gatherings
and friendships
sandy beaches and road trips
mountain meadows, campfires
muted by the morning tears of a redolent primal breath
deftly lifting up the gaze of tired faces tilted
toward the earth, craving
an embrace that is worthy
of capturing, an ascending golden sun.
In a deepening crescendo
of kindness gently metered,
each inflection drifting
along an improvised score…

fern, flute
filbert tree, bumble bee
dewdrop
and chickadee
flitting toward a new day.
Chocolate cake
a snowflake,
calico cat
and finger paint
creating a rainbow
warmly wrapped in words once nearly forgotten,
faithfully collected from the crevices of scattered abalone,
revealed along the miles of a glistening shore 
pulled recently, swiftly
from deep within the grasp
of a passing thunderstorm.

Heartbeat, cradle
taffeta with pearls
Brown Bear and tinker toys
found in fields of daffodils
swaying with a current
of downy ruffled feathers from a single preening crow
perched in the tree above, listening, responding
to a radiant new world.
Before mars and jupiter
Swainson’s thrush - a lullaby, finally succumbs
to a darkening sky.
Haystack, Monet
A moon bids its adieu 
the universe of Belcourt sings
and Van Gogh passionately portends,
the final flight of swifts preceding
a vibrant, blazing,
Starry Night scene.

Turner, lighthouse, Hilma and galaxy.
Sunset, sweet pea
he whispers lovingly.

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Creating Joyful Art

I have been recently tasked with making a “Joyful” art piece. Given my background in bright floral and nature-themed paintings, this would appear to be an easy task. Yet, as I dove deeper into my art I found myself meandering into new territory and finding inspiration in unlikely places - including writing this poem, “Solemnly he whispers”.

Like many others, I’ve spent the last few years honing in on the parts of my life I find joyful. From little moments (such as a quiet early morning with that first cup of coffee) to larger family adventures. In doing so, I’ve tried to make changes both large (moving my home and studio) and small (daily walks). However, when working on this assignment, I wanted to expand joyful moments for me into a shared experience by better understanding what joy is.

One of the exercises I found helpful, was found in a Psychology Today blog post, “Finding Your Joy” by Andrea Brandt PhD MFT. In it, she explores the difficulties that come from not being able to identify joy (for various medical/psychological reasons) and talks of connecting to your “joy triggers” by recognizing the feelings of buoyancy in your body, tingling in your chest, and positive uplifting excitement” when experiencing joy. She notes that emotions are the energy attracting attention to what is going on in yourself in the present moment. By understanding the body’s emotional response, we can recognize feelings of joy. And since, according to Dr. Brandt, “… joy is an excellent barometer for making decisions and setting goals”, it is valuable to know specifically what brings you joy, and to understand that those joyful moments can change over time. She illustrates this by encouraging people to create a joy chart.

Understanding Joy

As Dr. Brandt explains - first, create columns for specific periods of time (e.g. I can create six columns for different decades of my life: 0-9 years, 10-19 years, etc.) Within each column, try to remember what brought you joy. Think of activities, people, travel, experiences, etc., while being as specific as possible. Then, look over the list and see what might still feel relevant to you today. What might you want to pick back up again?

For me, the most interesting thing I noticed was the obvious themes that run through my entire life: Nature, art, family, friends, and travel. Within these, I could drill down and find specific moments that were meaningful and joyful - many of which needed nothing more than a focus in attention and a small increment of time to achieve.

It was as I was considering these moments that I happened to watch episode 3 of “Crash Landing on You” (recap provided by dramabeans.com). This sweet Korean drama had a scene that seemed destined to collide with my current considerations of joy with a scene of “nice words”. In it, the protagonist gifts a tomato plant to her co-star - the captain. She tells him to “treat it like a pet and raise it with love by saying nice things to it”. After she leaves, he crouches close to the plant and proceeds to quietly list words: ocean, sunlight, cloud… piano. The moment is charming and sweet - immediately conjuring the power of kindness in the dearness of a memory translated into a single word. I decided to make my own list of words, which led me to the poem, above, which combines my own memories with those of the captain.

Now hooked, and finding myself repeating the simple words that spoke to me as I walked the dog, ran the treadmill, washed dishes, or watched the sunset - I wanted to keep the list going. I looked for the joyful, nice, and comfort words of more people as I considered how a single word can elicit so much emotion and warmth.

From my March 27 Instagram post sharing my own words of comfort (and asking others to share), my collection grew: Sand, seashells, starfish, forest, meadow, moss, ice cream, adventure, tidepools, bushtits, fiddleheads, campfire, cocoa, marshmallows, moonlight, books, constellations, teapots, and Mary’s Peak.

Each word held an unexpected weight juxtaposed with lightness - even the ones I did not carry to the conversation.

What Lies Beyond

After I had struggled with attempts at capturing the right sentiment in this sculptural fiber art and mixed media piece, “What Lies Beyond” (which I finished for a different purpose - which can be found in my Patreon studio notes) - I found this new poetic direction a perfect inspiration for creating a collage of joy.

It is here I now find myself - writing words, cutting pieces, and layering textures on top of scribbled lines of color harkening back to joyful childhood memories of crayon doodles, flower gardens, and butterflies.

The creative process embraces a spectrum of emotions and can take me down many different paths. To embody joy, I hope that the exploration of my own happy moments, recognition of kindnesses given and received, and nice words spoken by others or those whispered in quiet moments alone - will permeate my art in new and meaningful ways. And it would be really nice if it happens within my deadline (fingers crossed)!

Wishing you joy,

Jennifer

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Would you like to add your joyful, comfort, or nice words to my growing list? I would love to hear from you in the comments below, on Instagram, or feel free to send me a note via email or snail mail.