Tag Archives: Montmartre

a conversation, sometimes in rhyme

by

silhouette back cover

when tasked with creating the “back matter” for my book (fancy publishing terms, ooh la la) a basic summary of the contents just didn’t feel right. so you can probably guess what i did…yup, i wrote another poem!

a poem to encapsulate the collection of poems that describe the past year of my life. a year of emotional turmoil, unexpected transition. a year of finding new life from the i n s i d e and falling in love with what i found:

 

a conversation-

sometimes in rhyme

between the writer

and the silhouette inside

words strung together

much more than a line

a reintroduction

soft shifting of sides

bloomed into being

collected and tied

fruitful and all-seeing

outside-in, synchronize

take this, my crescent year

hear the silence, read my mind

planted, rooted, growing, free

the voice inside, bold and outlined.

 

the art that i created to accompany this back cover poem was based on a silhouette cut for me by a man in montmartre, paris. one afternoon, following a lunch accompanied by several glasses of wine (as was the status quo throughout our stay in the city of light) my friends and i wandered through a busy market of artists painting, sketching, and snipping away. a silhouette artist stopped me and asked if he could cut my silhouette for me- to try and drum up some business. his stand was right on the corner, and he promised my silhouette would be free if i sat just a few minutes for him. maybe it was the charming accent or the wine turning my cheeks red- i shrugged my shoulders, hopped up onto the stool, and he went to work, cutting away my profile from glossy black paper while passersby stopped to inquire.

the small portrait now hangs in an oval-shaped frame in my bedroom. it is one of the first things i see when i wake up in the morning, and the last before i fall asleep at night. in a way, it helped inspire the idea of an internal conversation being with “the silhouette inside”. a piece of my favorite city, a story, a portrait that speaks.

 

PREORDER “the silhouette inside” SOON! Stay tuned for details…

un moment a montmartre

by

DSC02542 DSC02510 DSC02514 DSC02565 DSC02502 DSC02519 DSC02509DSC02570

On our last Friday in Paris, Tegan, Melissa and I headed to the 18th Arrondissement to take a walk around the Montmartre area.  We decided to get the full experience by eating at the Amelie café, 2 Moulins, stopping in at one of those crazy sex shops that line Boulevard de Clichy, and climbing the many steps up to the Basilica de Sacre Coeur, a beautiful Roman Catholic church whose majestic location on a hill in the heart of Paris offers a panoramic view of the city.

On our way to the Amelie cafe, 2 Moulins, we spotted a thousand dingus souvenir shops and actually decided to enter one, which turned out to be a fruitful endeavor…finally got myself a silly J’adore Paris t-shirt (pause for jokes at my expense…come on, bring ’em on)!  After some yummy salads at the café, it was time to climb up the hill to Sacre Coeur Basilica.  Seeing Paris from the top was absolutely incroyable, but watching a man bounce a soccer ball between his feet on a stone pillar over the edge of the Sacre Coeur steps then swirl it on a pen in his mouth as he climbed up a lamp post and contorted into crazy positions, kiiiind of stole the show.  After the street performance, we sat on the steps and munched on some delicious and interesting chocolate concoctions we’d mixed up into a self-serve bag at one of Paris’ infamous chocolatiers while gazing out at the city and finding all of the landmarks we had already visited.  “Look there’s Pompidou!  Is that Notre Dame?  I spy La Tour Eiffel over here!”  So. Good.

That was about all we had time for on the busy Friday before heading back from some wine, dinner, and a night out on the town.  Wishing you all a happy Wednesday as I head of to Physical Therapy- back to the grind!