Pure Poetry: Etsy Finds Week of 7/14/08

This week I decided to do Etsy finds based on one of my favorite things: poetry. I love poetry both classic and modern, from the Bard to the Beats (although I've neglected them here... alas, poor Kerouac! I knew him well....). With that in mind, here are a few things from Etsy that struck my fancy.

~oOo~

"I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,
I but advance a moment only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness."
-- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, "Poets to Come"

Friendship Card by Bunkleberry Studios

This wasn't listed this week, but I was looking for something Whitman because he's one of my favorites, and I thought the quote printed on this cute card was quite appropriate for a friendship card (for me, anyway!). Bunkleberry studios has a variety of quotes printed this way, all well chosen, as well as jewelry (my favorite: make coffee, not war). Check them out!

~oOo~

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
--Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet

French Subject Cahiers by A Quartzy Life

Yay for upcycling! This is a set of three handmade journals (and they're so pretty!), geared to be for note-taking for various subjects, but they could just as easily be used for your daily musings, and then for display. Since I'm a journal junkie, this was the perfect item for me to list here. Poetry finds its way into my journals quite often since I'm a poet at heart, and I can envision my words in one of these so easily.. it's just a "fit," if you know what I mean. I think they'd fit your words too, and you need a place to put them, right?

~oOo~

Was it the proud full sail of his great verse
Bound for the prize of (all too precious) you
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?
No, neither he nor his compeers by night
Giving him aid, my verse astonished.
He nor that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence
As victors of my silence cannot boast
I was not sick of any fear from thence.
But when your countenance filled up his line
Then lacked I matter, that enfeebled mine.

-- William Shakespeare, Sonnet #86

2009 Shakespeare Calendar by Immortal Longings

I found her Hamlet print first, and was going to feature that, when I discovered that you can get all of these lovely prints in one place with this calendar! You really must visit the shop if you care for the Bard at all, and browse the paintings that are included in this calendar. They evoke the mood of the scenes they're meant to depict so masterfully, in pen and ink and watercolor. I may need to pick up one of these before the year runs out!

~oOo~

"In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed -
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted."

-- Edgar Allen Poe, "A Dream"

Nevermore Mixed Metal Asymmetrical Earrings by Sunny Skies Studio

These are so cool! Most of us read Poe's short stories in school (Tell Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, etc.), and most of us have had exposure to The Raven. These earrings inspired me to go back and read it again. It seems to me that Poe is far more revered for his spooky short stories than his poetry, but his imagery is so powerful: "each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor" but I bet, like me, you don't remember much more about it than "quoth the Raven, nevermore" -- seriously, here's a link for you, go read The Raven: http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/poe/poe_ind.html

Okay I'm done obsessing about the poem. :) The earrings, though, do a great job of crystallizing the poem, and are some nice metal work, to boot. If you dig ear cuffs (and I do), check out their other items, they have some really cool stuff. (and I'm jealous that they're a husband and wife team doing metalworking together... wonder if mine can be persuaded.....)



Till next week, happy creating, shop handmade, and love one another.