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Making Art With the Universe

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Introspection suspends in dark blue amnion as rainwater blooms a reflection pool an oasis of energy for contemplative embryo; in stillness I grow.. my pulse a flowing stream of raindrops my body the rhythm maker my mind the artiste in a cocoon a rhythmic womb — a primal nest gestates my om b r e a t h i n g i n b r e a t h i n g o u t saturation of breath soaks and stretches my cortex canvas; within the indigo sphere I paint a mural upon my sacred temple walls a self-portrait with a benevolent brush dipped in starlight – I surrender staying and portraying within the lines uncaged colors roam beyond my human extremities and Earth’s edge a gouache-plash of teal and fuchsia fraternize with fibers of flesh and marrow conceiving abstracts as airy as sparrow dreams as I - a mindful explorer flies an inner cosmos beyond the confines of the canvas white outside the frames of physicality and reality to throw open window panes to the unlimited to banish pains of the limited — free my meditative spirit making art with the universe Susan Ashley September 7, 2022 ~ Fifth Place ~ Premiere Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 18 Sponsor: Mark Toney ~ First Place ~ Premiere Contest: Brian Strand Premiere Choice Sponsor: Brian Strand Photo: The Seer; Laurie Bain Hamilton - owner of primalpainter

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The Situation

Date: 8/31/2023 11:00:00 AM

I can be thrilled by intelegence and also touched by reality. One poet here tells of everyday events, adding a few phrases here and their. But her poetry that I fav has a mixture of both. I can tell when her muse kicks in and she proof read it and will win an award. Surely you know her too.

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/6/2023 6:41:00 PM

Dear TS, your gracious visit is truly appreciated as are your kind words. Thank you for your time spent with my poem and for sharing your thoughts. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Tom Woody

Date: 8/20/2023 4:45:00 PM

Goodness, that last stanza was quite climactic. At first I thought this was a metaphor for giving birth? I'm slow. Maybe giving birth to art? Poetry? In any case on Suze could write such a wonder.

Susan Ashley
Date: 8/22/2023 5:55:00 AM

Awww thanks, Tom. That means a lot to me coming from a poet of your high caliber. Your awesome spirit shines!

Tom Woody
Date: 8/21/2023 5:02:00 PM

I think it's what makes you awesome. And that's not just flattery

Susan Ashley
Date: 8/21/2023 4:23:00 PM

Oh yes, I agree, Tom, that the germ of the poem, the conception of a theme, title, or one great line to build upon, can be written quickly.. it’s the edits, the process, the careful nurturing and creative growth of the gist that makes it poetry for me. This is where I get immersed in the meditation and pleasure of writing. For me it’s a long love affair with the piece before I’m ready for its release on PS or anywhere else :) Idk, maybe that’s weird?

Tom Woody
Date: 8/21/2023 12:45:00 PM

That's quite interesting. For me it tends to be spontaneous. I'll get the germ of a poem, maybe just a title or theme, then I just write it out and worry about the edits later

Susan Ashley
Date: 8/21/2023 12:22:00 PM

Hi Tom, so nice to see you! Oh c'mon.. you.. slow..? Never! Your intellect is as keen as can be! Indeed, giving birth to art, to poetry, giving life to words.. when introspection and imagination conceive an idea and nurture it with creativity and intellect, then.. Voila! there it is! I find the act of writing poetry, the creative immersion of it, is much like meditation for me. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I'm so glad to know you enjoyed my poem, my friend. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Robert Lindley

Date: 6/8/2023 2:16:00 PM

A masterpiece from a master artist's hand my friend. Beauty, knowledge, light and in depth analyzing all well shown. A fine fav and a true gem too. God bless.

Susan Ashley
Date: 7/4/2023 8:51:00 AM

Dear Robert, both your visit to my poem and your heartwarming response to the spirit of this piece is truly appreciated. Thank you for sharing in the contemplative journey of this poem with me. The honor of your fav is received with gratitude, my friend. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

P.M. Richter

Date: 1/14/2023 8:43:00 PM

Love this poem: “a mindful explorer flies an inner cosmos beyond the confines of the canvas white outside the frames of physicality and reality to throw open window panes to the unlimited to banish pains of the limited — free my meditative spirit making art with the universe”. You can paint such joyful and inspiring images :)

Susan Ashley
Date: 1/15/2023 4:44:00 PM

Dear P.M., it’s wonderful to see you! I’m so glad to know you enjoyed my poem. Thank you, I am both delighted by your gracious visit and inspired by heartwarming words. Warmest wishes for a healthy and happy new year.. ~Susan

Paghunda Zahid

Date: 12/29/2022 8:59:00 PM

It's so beautiful... Well deserved placement. May the New Year bless you with health, wealth, and happiness Susan

Susan Ashley
Date: 12/29/2022 10:49:00 PM

Dear Paghunda, I’m delighted by your gracious visit. Thank you for sharing in the emotions of this poem with me. Your comments are treasured. Warmest wishes, my friend, for you and yours to have a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.. ~Susan

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 12/18/2022 5:04:00 PM

I am back with a very belated congrats. Looks like I predicted right on your winning. And you even got a trophy

Susan Ashley
Date: 12/26/2022 11:17:00 AM

Your return visit is so considerate, Andrea. Thank you for your heartwarming congrats and lovely thoughts. You are not only a great poet and friend but a clairvoyant too :)) Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Valsa George

Date: 12/17/2022 8:50:00 PM

"I paint a mural upon my sacred temple walls a self-portrait with a benevolent brush dipped in starlight –" Once more I stand aghast looking at the mural you have painted in teal and fuchsia.... From the limited, you have created the unlimited......! So lovely! Congratulations Susan on your most deserved trophy win

Susan Ashley
Date: 12/26/2022 11:09:00 AM

Dearest Valsa, your precious thoughts touch me deeply. It is an honor to receive your beautiful comments and kind congrats, my lovely friend. Thank you for sharing in the emotions of my poem with me. Your shining presence lights up both my page and my heart. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 11/9/2022 12:13:00 PM

Wow, free verse at its finest, Susan. I bet you will end up a top winner in the entire marathon. Congrats today,

Susan Ashley
Date: 11/16/2022 9:05:00 AM

Thank you, Andrea. Your lovely comments and heartfelt congrats are truly appreciated. There are so many great poems being submitted to the overall marathon contest - so many talented writers on PS! All I can say, is that the competition in this marathon contest is stiff, so I'll be grateful for any placement I may receive. I have no doubts you'll be up there too, my friend. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Gary Radice

Date: 11/3/2022 2:08:00 PM

As with all your works, Susan this poem demands more than just one read to fully appreciate all that you describe. The words brought the image alive and I thoroughly enjoyed the discovery in the process. Cheers - Gary

Susan Ashley
Date: 11/16/2022 9:00:00 AM

Dear Gary, your gracious visit and beautiful comments are received with gratitude. I'm so glad to know that you enjoyed my poem. Thank you for sharing your precious thoughts. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

John Watt

Date: 11/2/2022 10:32:00 PM

My dear PS-PS, the beauty of this dazzling artwork is only surpassed by the elegant beauty of your poem. Your introspection lingers in my mind as your lush imagery washes over my poetic soul. "Conceiving abstracts as airy as sparrow dreams", indeed! You write with such an abundance of passion for language, art, and the cosmos (both inner and outer)... an exquisite piece from start to finish with a captivating title that makes for a fantastic ending line that leaves a lasting impression. Congratulations for this worthy marathon winner and Best New Poem. Warmly, and with enduring admiration ~PoBro

Susan Ashley
Date: 11/16/2022 8:55:00 AM

Dear PoBro, my elation over your comments is only surpassed by my gratitude for your poet's soul and the grace of your friendship. I deeply appreciate not only your beautiful comments but also the depth and breadth of your awe-inspiring poetry, both your generous gifts serve to elevate all who partake in the enriching experience of your expressive nature. Thank you, John, for your precious thoughts and heartfelt congrats. Warmest wishes and hugs.. ~your PS-PS

Mark Toney

Date: 11/2/2022 1:24:00 PM

Wow, Susan. I just saw your chosen image, which is out of this world! A perfect choice for your 'mindful exploration beyond your human extremities and Earth's edge... flying through the inner cosmos... outside the frames of physicality and reality.' Congratulations on your win on Mile 18 of my 2022 Poetry Marathon Contest. Keep your running shoes on because Mile 19 has already started.

Susan Ashley
Date: 11/16/2022 8:10:00 AM

Dear Mark, I truly appreciate my poem's placement is your challenging marathon contest. It is indeed an honor to share the podium with the gifted poets listed. Thank you for your heartwarming comments and kind congrats, they are received with gratitude. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Jennifer Proxenos

Date: 10/30/2022 10:48:00 AM

Hi my awesome friend. You write poetry extraordinaire, and you create poetry for future generations to be read and studied by students worldwide. No doubt Mark will have high regard for this entry to his contest. I hope you are well, I am recently recovered from a covid related viral infection, landed in hospital for 6 days almost didn't make it. Susan I see all your well earned trophies, am so proud to know you. Always know that you are a very special friend. Hugs and blessings Jennifer.

Susan Ashley
Date: 11/8/2022 10:50:00 AM

Dearest Jennifer, my lovely friend and poetry sis, it is indeed a pleasure to see you! I am honored and humbled by your beautiful thoughts. Thank you for casting your warm glow upon my poem and upon my heart. We are all well here, but I am so sorry to hear of your recent and serious bout with Covid. How scary for you and your family.. My dear sis, I'm so relieved to know that you are home and out of the hospital, and I hope that you are getting stronger and feeling better by the day. Please know that you are a very special friend to me as well. Warmest wishes, love and hugs sent on healing breezes.. ~Susan

Malabika Ray Choudhury

Date: 10/28/2022 2:55:00 PM

Congratulations on your trophy win, Dear Susan. Your poetry is sublime and creative - every word you choose brings a brilliant connotation to the mind of the readers. More than a trophy-winner, you are an imaginative artist - universe is your subject. Love and blessings ~ Mala

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/28/2022 4:33:00 PM

My dearest Mala, it's so wonderful to see you! Thank you for gracing my poem with your beautiful comments and congrats. My heart revels in such heartwarming words from you, a cherished friend and grand poetess of immense poetic talent.. I'm so glad your enjoyed this piece, my sweet friend. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

David Kavanagh

Date: 10/3/2022 2:30:00 AM

You certainly don’t paint by numbers Susan, your introspection paradoxically likes to live outside the box, off canvas, off-piste, a place where we must use our imagination to cast off the chains of the prosaic, brilliant creative writing, congratulations, cheers David

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/3/2022 11:56:00 AM

Dear David, I relish your vivacious thoughts! Thank you for sharing in the experience of this poem with me. Indeed, introspection can lead to meditation which can lead to a higher sense of self-awareness and mindfulness that can free one from ego to then become one with the universe, which is definitely outside the box! Your heartwarming congrats fill me with gratitude as does the beauty of your comments. Warmest wishes, my friend.. ~Susan

Line Gauthier

Date: 10/2/2022 4:33:00 PM

wow ~ a beautiful poem, Susan ~

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/2/2022 5:06:00 PM

Dear Lin, your gracious visit and your heartwarming response to my poem fills me with gratitude. Thank you, my friend, your uplifting words are treasured. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Kim Rodrigues

Date: 9/28/2022 5:54:00 AM

My favorite verse includes: soaks and stretches my cortex canvas. Hugs ~ Kim

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/1/2022 9:37:00 AM

Thank you, Kim, for your wonderful comment. I'm so pleased to know you enjoyed that line.. it's one of my fav verses in the poem too :) Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Bill Baker

Date: 9/27/2022 5:09:00 PM

Congrats on your Trophy win! The ceative way birth, through the cosmos was shown, life in the blending of flowing colors, and purpose through making art being one with the universe. A FAV of a lifetime, Susan. Your poem held my attention, drawing me into the excitement of our relationship with the universe and the miracle of birth throught the expression: breathing in ... breathing out. The finale, my spirit making art with the universe, genius. Bless you and your poetry, Bill

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/1/2022 9:45:00 AM

Dear Bill, I am touched by your thoughtful response to my poem. Thank you, for your uplifting comments and heartwarming congrats, both are held in my humble appreciation. I am also deeply honored by the distinction of your fav and filled with gratitude for your friendship. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Beata Agustin

Date: 9/22/2022 8:12:00 PM

Wow! Thanks so much for sharing your talent... which is delightfully inspiring. God bless you.

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/26/2022 11:03:00 AM

Dear Beata, your beautiful comments are so very uplifting! Thank you, for your heartwarming visit. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Janice Canerdy

Date: 9/22/2022 6:31:00 PM

A big CONGRATS on your well-deserved win with this vividly descriptive, deeply personal poem, Susan. Janice

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/26/2022 11:05:00 AM

Dear Janice, your gracious visit and heartwarming congrats are so very appreciated, as is your inspiring comment. Thank you, for your kindness. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Sara Kendrick

Date: 9/22/2022 2:50:00 PM

Very creative work that you have penned in this winner. Unique choice of art of which to write such a deep descriptive free verse work. Way to go. Congratulations. Sara

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/22/2022 3:16:00 PM

Dear Sara, thank you for your thoughtful comments and kind congrats. Both are truly appreciated. Actually, the poem was written first, then the picture was found after when I was looking for a meditative art piece to give a visual to my poem. Your lovely presence is treasured. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Sotto Poet

Date: 9/22/2022 10:18:00 AM

Ashley, many congratulations on your top win, which was very well earned. Your inspiration is shining out in high gear, and although it never fails to impress me, it also always makes me yearn just a little bit more; this is truly wonderful! You are an Artist with a mind that is sailing outside the constraints of the prosaic reality as well as the thoughts that several people share.

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/22/2022 5:58:00 PM

Dear Lasaad, it is a pleasure to receive your beautiful comments and heartwarming congrats. Your thoughts humble me. It is always an honor when your esteemed presence graces my poem’s page, thank you for your gracious visit and kindness. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Sam Kauffman

Date: 9/22/2022 10:16:00 AM

My Dearest Rhyme Time Friend, I shake my head in wonder as I sink into each layer of this magnificence - each hue of your brilliance, your combination of words and dramatic imagery. You are a master artist of elegance and eloquence as you paint "your sacred walls" and "fraternize with fibers of flesh and marrow!" We are blessed who read your heart through these words of the growing soul - a masterpieces. CONGRATULATIONS on your win. Sending you blessings in tints of deep blue wonder and royal purple joy! This is regal!

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/1/2022 11:06:00 AM

My Dearest Rhyme Time Friend, I shake my head in wonder and gratitude for receiving such thoughtful and beautiful comments as only you can give. I am the one who's blessed to have such an amazing poetry sister in you, Sam. An intuitive poetry sister who shares in the expression of my poetry, and who also shares her own wondrously creative and inspiring poetry with me and the world so that we may experience the beauty of your soulful eloquence. Your heartwarming congrats are so very appreciated as is your precious friendship! Warmest wishes, love and hugs sent on raindrop streams.. ~Susan

Susan Lawrence

Date: 9/21/2022 6:46:00 PM

My dearest Susan, Breathtakingly beautiful..Your flight of heart and spirit~ banishing pains of the limited as only you know how to bring to life this way. With emboldened splashes of soul and spirit and colors oh so vibrant. You have the ability so see inside and outside the realms of what makes us human and bring us to unrealized peace as we travel with you. Exceptional my friend. Love and hugs always, Susan xx :)

Susan Ashley
Date: 10/1/2022 9:17:00 AM

Dearest Susan, my time-travel companion, inspiring friend and soul sister, your amazing comments leave me breathless. I am filled with gratitude for your heart, soul and imagination as we experience vibrant realms of soulful expression, hand in hand in, sailing through the visions and voices shared in the elation of poetry. We sail together on intuitive vibrations of the past, present and future. The splendor of your own transcendent poetry sweeps me up along with you too, as our amazing high-flying journey continues. Thank you, my inspiring friend. Warmest wishes, love and hugs sent on white wings of creative liberation.. ~Susan

Valsa George

Date: 9/18/2022 11:22:00 PM

"I - a mindful explorer flies an inner cosmos beyond the confines of the canvas white outside the frames of physicality and reality"..... ! When we struggle to ceate a painting within the narrow frame of a canvas, you leave the confines of the canvas and create an art- timeless and limitless .....! This is the essential difference between an ordinary poet and a poet of your stature. Susan, your poetry transcends all limits and as your inward journey progresses, you come up with pearls of insight ! Beautiful poem my friend!

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/26/2022 11:01:00 AM

Dearest Valsa, thank you, the beauty of your soulful heart shines upon my heart and my poem. Your amazing comments leave my both breathless and uplifted. Your words are works of art whether they are beaming on your poetry page or adorning one's comment box, such is the gift of your wondrous expression. I am both honored and humbled to receive such gracious and graceful feedback from a poetess I hold in such high esteem. I am elated to know you enjoyed my poem, my sweet friend. Thank you, once again, for elevating my joy to beyond the clouds! Warmest wishes.. ~Susan

Jack Horne

Date: 9/17/2022 6:28:00 AM

as always, your pen enchanted me so much that I had to read it twice. Beautiful words, my friend

Susan Ashley
Date: 9/22/2022 7:50:00 PM

Dear Jack, you never fail to inspire appreciation for your lovely thoughts. Thank you, my friend, for spending time with my poem and for your kindness. Warmest wishes.. ~Susan