Category Archives: Art

Offering

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

I am *completely done* with manuscript work for Eating the Heart First.  I turned in final edits to Tom Lombardo this week and he gave me praise for the work. I am happy he’s happy.  Tom has been great to work with. I am indebted to him for “discovering” me!  So glad to be a part of the Press 53 family.

I lit a candle and said a prayer of gratitude tonight for getting this far and asked for blessings on the path ahead.  The next steps are book design, production and marketing.  The projected publication is October 2012, as a Tom Lombardo Selection from Press 53.

My job now is to strategize how to sell the book, set up regional readings, and do a book launch affair.  I like this kind of work. I like to network, brainstorm, and plan; make phone calls, send emails, gas up my vehicle to get on the road to promote and sell my book!

 

I want to move you with my words.

If you want a peek at my writing you can go to this link:  http://clarelmartin.com/the-work/

Poetry has been a lifeline. Being able to create something beautiful out of sorrow has had healing effects, and I hope to be able to teach a workshop on ‘writing out the grief’ to help others sometime in the future.

I would ask any authors if they have unique and effective methods to create interest and sell books to share their ideas with me.  In return, I will offer to write a review of their published book or chapbook of poetry on this website.  

Announcing the “Voices” Seasonal Reading Series

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

I’ve surreptitiously founded a literary reading series in Lafayette, LA called the” Voices“ series.  The hope is to showcase amazing talent that we have in our community and beyond, perhaps, and bring a lively arts happening on a Saturday evening to Carpe Diem! We hope we will have success with these events and appreciate you sharing this information.

What was a whisper of a thought formed into an idea, then a plan, and then real, live happenings.  Our first literary night was in February when Patrice Melnick and I read original work. It was a great night.  

High off that success, we are planning spring, summer and autumn readings for the rest of 2012. Our goal is to present four literary events through the year to coincide with the seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.  There may be additional readings for special events, such as book signings.   

Our host venue is the wonderful Carpe Diem! Gelato – Espresso Bar at 812 Jefferson Street in Lafayette.  We love them and they love us! Please support Carpe Diem!

 For the “Voices in Spring” event, we have poet/professor Marthe Reed of ULL reading her bold and elegant poetry, and Bonny McDonald of LSU performing an original act of spoken word, music and movement,–both artists will present something captivating, unique and dynamic at 7 p.m. on April 21st.

It would be their pleasure to inspire and entertain you.  

A bit from the press release below.

~Clare

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it.

—Anais Nin

On Saturday, April 21st, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. CARPE DIEM! GELATO-ESPRESSO BAR invites the public to spend a spring evening experiencing poetry and performance arts while enjoying gelato, espresso, tea, and pastries when it hosts VOICES IN SPRING: Poetry by Marthe Reed and Performance Art by Bonny McDonald.

Marthe Reed has published two books, Gaze (Black Radish Books) and Tender Box, A Wunderkammer with drawings by Rikki Ducornet (Lavender Ink); a third book is forthcoming from Moria Books. She has also published chapbooks, post*cards: Lafayette a Lafayette (with j/j hastain), (em)bodied bliss and zaum alliterations, all as part of the Dusie Kollektiv Series. Her manuscript, an earth of sweetness dances in the vein, was a finalist in Ahsahta Press’ 2006 Sawtooth Poetry Contest.

More info at: http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~mxr5675/ 

Bonny McDonald is a teacher, performance artist, and poet from Louisiana currently working toward a PhD in Performance Studies at LSU.  Over the last ten years, she has traveled widely as a performance poet and as a teaching-artist, leading a variety of workshops on creative writing, public speaking, and the dramatic arts. Part song, part dance, part poetry reading, her recent work explores boundaries between waking and dream, reality and fantasy, the body and the page.

The free event begins at 7:00 p.m. 812 Jefferson Street, Lafayette

Clare-- wife, mother, poet

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

Reblogged from Orphans of Dark and Rain:

Fools! Do not try to ascertain her!

She is inscrutable, but her poetry is not.

Do not call her “poetess” or Earth Mother.

She is not the Venus of Willendorf.

She would not call herself a feminist,

but she is strong and feminine.

She is both liberal and conservative with money & sex.

She is involved in a court battle with sleep.

Read more… 40 more words

Haha. First ever post to this blog. :)

Coming soon!

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

I have poems forthcoming in Blue Fifth Review’s “blue five notebook” series, Louisiana Literature, Melusine: Woman in the 21st Century and Referential Magazine. I will post links to the issues as they are released.

 

 

Re: EATING THE HEART FIRST

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

What fueled the writing of many of the poems in Eating the Heart First was the desire to know myself more deeply, beyond motherhood, beyond wifehood; to discover more of myself through the creative process and craft of poetic art. I needed to become something more—to be transformed.

 

“Write from the depths of your experience—the writing itself will deepen experience.”

These are poems of grief, of ecstatic love and rage. Yes, many of these poems are sorrowful, but there is joy as well.  Find it and you will find something rare to be treasured. The poems are authentic although many of the narratives are likely fictional. Who is to say what the factual truth is?  I was aiming for something higher.

All of my experience informs my art. I have gone to the very edge in this writing and have come back whole.  There are personal poems and there are persona poems.  Take the journey with me. Trust my voice.  

The poems ask for a sacrifice. The poems ask you to give something of yourself in order to imagine their worlds, feel their emotional impact. The price is not too high, and there may be a catharsis, an illumination and some pleasure for you.

Much of my art is in pursuit of the image.  I strive to create arresting, powerful images and metaphors.  While some border on the surreal, I believe they are still accessible.  That is my best talent, I believe.  

I can’t wait for you to have this book in your hands or in your computer/e-reader! Fall 2012!

More soon…be well…there’s writing to do.

8 years and a lifetime

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

It is rare to ever feel that you have triumphed in life. That is how I feel—triumphant and profoundly grateful.  I made something real.  It was just a wisp of an idea which came on a wind, a small spark that became a fire in me. The work of 8 years and a lifetime went into Eating the Heart First.

I had a baby when I was 15. He was born premature.   Adam’s life is a long story that I cannot tell here. What I can relate is that after a life lived beyond the doctors’ predictions, a life of joy and pain, Adam passed away in 2004. When Adam died, I made a conscious decision to honor his memory by committing myself to The Writing Life. Because the focus we had given to Adam’s care was suddenly not necessary any more I thought, “Beyond what I need to give to and be for my family what can I do for myself?” I needed to write to feel as though I was not giving up on a long held dream. I also made the promise to my daughter, who needs me to succeed; she needs me to set an example for her so that when she dreams she will believe that she can make her dreams real too.

I choose to live without regret. To live without regret we must follow our better instincts which lead us to the Good. The first task was to read, read, read and write, write, write with the focus that I would get better and better and better. I got out of bed to write. I wrote while driving the car. I wrote my dreams and memories. I wrote what I believed was in the heads of strangers. I sought out other writers to be a part of a community and began submitting my work.

I took on my Writing Life as though it was a business. Being a poet was my job. I had a professional background in public relations, marketing and sales. I decided these skills would be necessary to have any success at writing. 

In the 8 years since Adam’s death, sixty poems of mine have been published.  I have read publicly about twenty times. I am a Teaching Artist with the Acadiana Center for the Arts. I just founded the “Voices” reading series and I have a forthcoming book.

Writing has saved my life many times. Creating this book gave me not only the satisfaction of making something beautiful and lasting but marks a true high point in my way of living.  I will spare you the clinical details, but I have struggled for decades to be well, to recover from bad breakdowns that left years in ruins.

Being able to claw myself back to a real and rewarding life is thankfully possible because I have good caregivers, a strong family and wonderful friends.  I have not beaten the disease but I have beaten it back–

The making of the book (the writing of it) has come to completion and is outside of me now.  So much energy is freed. I will get behind the book when it is published in the fall in every way I can. I am looking forward to the new challenges that selling a book will present.

Eating the Heart First, my debut poetry collection, is slated for a fall 2012 release as a Tom Lombardo Selection from Press 53. You will be hearing much more about it. I must self-promote because I want to move you with my poetry. 

I invite you to read me here. And do keep your eye on this site for news of new adventures in my Writing Life, readings and new publications and such.  Thank you.  

“Come, come, be transformed. “

COMING SOON: My First Book!

Posted on by Clare L. Martin
I have been BURSTING to tell you this:
 
It’s OFFICIAL!
 
My debut poetry collection, Eating the Heart First, will be published by Press 53 this fall as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection.
 
I am profoundly grateful to Kevin Morgan Watson and Tom Lombardo for this incredible opportunity to share my words with the world. I poured myself out for this book–
 
Thank you thank you thank you…♥
 
More soon.
 
Now it is time for DANCING.

VOICES IN WINTER: PATRICE MELNICK AND CLARE L. MARTIN

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

READINGS OF ORIGINAL WORKS (POETRY AND CREATIVE NONFICTION)
BY PATRICE MELNICK AND CLARE L. MARTIN

Warm up with words;
coffee, tea, hot cocoa & espresso—
… or keep it cool
                with gelato!

HOSTED BY
CARPE DIEM!
GELATO-ESPRESSO BAR
812 Jefferson Street
Lafayette

February 4th, 2012
7 pm to 8:30 pm

Patrice Melnick’s memoir, Turning Up the Volume, (Xavier Press) was published in 2005 and a collection of her essays is forthcoming in 2012 from Catalyst Book Press. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals including Grain, Buffalo Bones and Prism International. Melnick taught at Xavier University in New Orleans and at the University of New Orleans. She holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Following Hurricane Katrina, Melnick opened Casa Azul Gifts in Grand Coteau and started a literary reading and open mic series. In 2010, she established the nonprofit Festival of Words Cultural Arts Collective Inc.

Clare L. Martin is a poet-mother-wife; a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Martin’s poetry has appeared in Avatar Review, Poets and Artists and The Centrifugal Eye, among others. She has been nominated for Dzanc Books’ Best of the Web (2011) for Best New Poets and Sundress Publication’s Best of the Net. Her work was selected for the 2011 Press 53 Spotlight anthology which features a select group of emerging poets and writers. Clare is a Teaching Artist through the Acadiana Center for the Arts.

Info: martin.clarel@gmail.com

Two Dreams of The White Horse (2005)

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

May 10, 2005

I dreamed of the White Horse again last night. In this new dream I was its master. On my command it leaped high fences topped with barbwire and lay still without breathing in tall grass to escape detection of the mafioso hunting me. When I’d fled the murderers, I strode into the house of The Don and walked directly to him. He was a thin, old man in loose clothing without a single gray hair. I whispered in his ear. The breathless hitmen falling over themselves to reach me were told: “Leave this woman alone.”

The dream that follows is the one I had February 5, 2005, which was my introduction to the symbol of the White Horse. I think this first dream of the White Horse could have been the awareness I had been chasing illusions and this second dream indicated I’d reached some mastery over my life.

Chasing the White Horse –Dream of 2/5/05

I had a psychotic break and was out of my mind for a year or many years. The years were black pages. I had to be placed in a secluded, secret house and attended by several plain-clothes, patronizing nurses. My husband divorced me and remarried a beautiful blond woman. My daughter simply forgot me. My ex had more children with the woman. I saw him and he was indifferent toward me. He said now, with the new wife, he knew what love really was and that the sex with his new beautiful wife was fantastic and meaningful. The most significant people in my life were unreachable, despite all of my efforts to remind them who I was and what I believed we meant to each other. I was totally lost and alone. The heart of my life dissolved. My loved ones had “moved on” and I was without direction. I had been fighting my demons only with the hope of returning to my family– but they were by choice through with me.

I wrote a book when I’d recovered my mind and gave the manuscript to the suspicious nurses reluctantly, but with desperate need that they would see that it got published. They smirked and took the manuscript. I escaped on a moonless night and ran barefooted through cold mud and unlocked several wooden gates to freedom.  I had no idea where I was. The place was rural and unfamiliar to me.

I attempted to be guided by constellations but my knowledge of the heavens was vague. I followed a river until I found a city. I entered a boutique that sold books, wind chimes and sterling silver picture frames. When a happy customer spoke to me I was surprised to learn I was famous. Many people had read the book and loved me but I didn’t know them and they meant nothing to me. I was helped my on my journey across America with money, shelter, clothes and food.

I arrived at my parent’s home. There was a wild, white stallion tearing up the lawn. My father held it tenuously by a thin string. The White Horse broke free before I could close the gates. I chased the White Horse. It ran into traffic and caused a calamitous accident but was unharmed. The horse bucked and galloped through my hometown and breezed into a weird pastel colored subdivision that looked like rows of storybook castles. I chased the White Horse into a house with an elaborate checker-pattern inlaid wood spiral staircase that rose into infinite space. I caught glimpses of the horse travelling upwards but it was far away. I was tired of running, so I climbed the staircase on my hands and knees. I became dizzy from looking up. Space tightened. I became disoriented. I couldn’t tell anymore which way was up and which way was down. The stairwell shut around me like a coffin. I woke up confused and hopeless.

Lifework

Posted on by Clare L. Martin

 

STILL LIFE ON DESK

 

Here are links to my creative works accessible on the Internet.

 THE WORK