Three spoken-word pieces originally created as part of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center’s “Question Everything” exhibition. They are performed here in collaboration with live painter Blais Bellenoit. Music by Blais Bellenoit, filming by Scott Varn, audio engineering by Dave Hamilton, spoken word by Alli Marshall.
The poems celebrate the life and work of Black Mountain College alumna Pat Passlof, an abstract artist who lived until 2011. The first two poems take their titles from articles written about Pat; the third is an ekphrastic poem inspired by Rodin’s “The Centuaress” sculpture, which ties in thematically to Pat’s many images of horses and her feminist life.
I recently spoke with Tommy Calloway and Shawndra Russell for their podcast, “
Like many other creatives, I’m trying to spend my COVID-19 quarantine learning new skills, working on projects that feed my soul, and making badass art. I’m offering daily creativity prompts (Monday through Friday) on 
Ekphrastic art is work made in response to another piece of artwork. It can be a story jump-started by a painting, a song inspired by a sculpture or — to paraphrase a cliche — a dance about architecture. In this workshop, we’ll focus on poetry as our medium and, while writers may use any poetic form to which they feel called, those new to poetry and/or ekphrastic work are encouraged to use freeform or prose poetry.