No cherry blossoms for us

Keeping pace with the seasons of life

Hello, Magic Makers!

How long has it been since a piece of art shifted your perception of what is possible?

out behind our house
there are no cherry blossoms
the storm stole our tree

Another Season

Voles instinctively know the seasons change from winter to spring. They leap up from hibernation ready to take care of essential business—eating, mating, and nesting.

No therapist signals the trees to start budding in the spring so their flowers will be ready for the pollinators.

But humans are a confused lot. Once of the Earth, we have cut ourselves off from the invisible vibrations that coax us into the different seasons of our lives.

My fruit trees and garden were once my second greatest joy. When the collapse came—I speak of that time in apocalyptic terms because for our family it was the end—my soul had no more capacity for the plants. My trees have mostly carried on without me. We’ve lost a couple to the storm last year, the ornamental cherry and one of the plums.

This is the first spring without any cherry blossoms, and something inside of me is trying to stir from a deep hibernation.

Some signal is telling me the seasons have changed and it’s time to bud and bloom.

Do I dare acknowledge the signal? Do I give myself to this renewed ancient impulse or do I resist and go back to sleep?

Artist Note

Earlier this year a reader recommended the Richard Powers novel, Overstory to me. (Thanks Alex!) He thought it was a book I would enjoy. He was more than right. I just started the book this week and already everything I thought I knew about writing and story has shifted. Reading the book obliterated a block that had stumped me on a particular story for years. Long, long-time readers of Weirdo Poetry may remember my experimental graphic novel start called The Cosmic Wayfarer. I hit a massive story construction roadblock partway through the writing, and set the project aside, trusting I would eventually find the way forward. Reading Overstory showed me the path. Now I need to put Wayfarer back into my publishing schedule.

Because I collage my comics, I often reuse the same elements over and over, slightly tweaking them. For today’s comic, I decided to make some new ground/earth backgrounds. They better reflect the red clay we get to contend with when planting in the Willamette Valley.

Commercial Note

I started making poetry comics knowing that the idea was not very commercial. However, the impulse to make these was so powerful, I couldn't not make them.

Now, after having been at this for a bit, I believe that there is a decent-sized market for my work. However, it takes a lot of work to find the right audience to discover the best ways to deliver my work to the people who want to read it. I’m not close to my goal of making a full-time income from my poetry/writing/comic making, but I am closer. Every time I publish now I get a little more traction, and my artist income goes up a little.

I know there is a way to make a good living while making my corner of the world a better place.

Cheers,

Jason