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Here’s to Vowels!

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From a 19th-Century copy of CROWN JEWELS (or Gems of Literature, Art, and Music …) compiled by Henry Davenport Northrop and published by Pennsylvania Publishing Company in 1887, I plucked this wee riddle poem by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), then gave it the artsyletters mini collage treatment.
 
On the Vowels
 
by Jonathan Swift
 
  We are little airy creatures,
  All of different voice and features:
One of us in glass is set,
  One of us you’ll find in jet;
  T’other you may see in tin,
  And the fourth a box within;
  If the fifth you should pursue,
  It can never fly from you.
 
I thought those “little airy creatures” would pair well with some old lace! Though the blocky midcentury brass letters are anything but airy, I suppose – so here’s to a little contrast! You can find this 4X6 mini shadowbox collage here.

Happy Halloween!

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https://www.etsy.com/shop/artsyletters
Happy Halloween!
My Etsy shop is on break Oct. 19-26 as I travel for some author school visits. I’ll be shipping out orders again the week of Oct. 31. If you’re in Beaufort, SC, find some fun spooky gifts at The Beaufort Emporium and at Nevermore Books! Mwah-ha-haaa. — Robyn

For the writer who loves a little dangle of history (& May/June shop update)….

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Antique pen nib earrings with Swarovski crystals… available at The Beaufort Emporium (Beaufort, SC) and soon in my Etsy shop.

Happy Almost-Summer! I’ve been enjoying making earrings with antique pen nibs (many 100+ years old) and Swarovski crystals, no longer being produced as components for the wholesale trade. These pictured have sterling hooks and fun vintage links as well. They’re available at The Beaufort Emporium in downtown Beaufort, SC.

I’ll list them soon in my Etsy shop, which is currently taking a little break. See you back there in mid-June-ish! Feel free to send an email or a message through Etsy if you need to reach me before then. Take good care, Robyn

A Little Lunar New Year Fun with William Blake…

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Happy Year of the Tiger! Or, Tyger, as it were…

I like to participate in the New Year Poem Postcard Project spearheaded by Jone Rush MacCulloch, one of my dear poetry friends. Several of us Poetry Friday folks, or poetry minded folks, swap postcards in the mail to jumpstart the year. These are usually lovely and inspiring. I got a wild hair this year and decided to toss in a chuckle, with this play on “The Tyger” by William Blake (1757 – 1827):
©

Poet Poet, burning bright

In the blue computer light

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful syntax-y?

…

Did he who made Iambs make thee?

©Robyn Hood Black, after, and with apologies to, William Blake

I sketched the tiger in pen and ink, but filled in the fur with snippets from
Blake’s draft of “The Tyger” from one of his notebooks  (copied from a reproduction in Peter Ackroyd’s book, BLAKE).  Lucky for me, there were lots of heavy black scratch-outs!

To see the poetry postcards I received and for links to and about Blake’s poem, click here for my author blog post.

Wishing you a wild and poetic 2022!