© 2022, Michelle Kogan, pencil and watercolor.
Nurture Nature and Women’s Body-Health Rights
Promote Persistence, Science, & Equity!
Save Women & Our Earth!
© 2022 Michelle Kogan
Happy Poetry Friday!
The mixed-media drawing here is featured in the group exhibit:
Our Bodies, Our Health: Navigating the Wars Within and Around Us
At: Koehnline Museum of Art
October 13 – November 10, 2022
Public Reception: Thursday, October 13, 5 – 8-pm
Koehnline Museum of Art
Oakton Community College
1600 East Golf Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016
http://www.oakton.edu/museum
Janet Fagal and I were poem swaps partners this summer. However our summers did runneth over, just as my Fall is now. So, today I’m sharing her two lovely poems along with all the treasures she included. I’m looking forward to spending some quiet moments with Georgia Heard and Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s book, A Field Guide to the Heart! Many thanks Janet, and I like both of your poems and love your TOO MANY ZUCCHINI? JUST CALL GRANDMA poem! Time to start drawing some more dinosaurs…
And thanks also to our lovely Summer Poem Swap originator and organizer, Tabatha Yeatts!!!
Check out this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at Sarah Grace Tuttle’s blog: Sarah Grace Tuttle Children’s Author and Poet. Thanks for hosting Sarah! Sarah is graciously sharing a bit of her writing process.
Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing 
Michelle, your mixed-media drawing is glorious and beautiful! Congratulations having it exhibited at such an important event! I love how you drew the title in color framing the woman, as the flowers and leaves frame her. The colors seem to highlight the woman, and also highlight the words’ as if they were being spoken with emotion, bringing forth the evocativeness of your drawing! I hope you understand what I mean. I love your drawing. Thank you for including the link to the college and museum, which seems like an amazing place. I love Janet’s poems, especially Too Many Zucchini! Just call Grandma. It has great voice, hooked me from the first line, and kept reeling me in all the way to the fun ending! I always love reading her poems. What a lucky duck you are to receive Rebecca & Georgia’s Field Guide to the Heart. Thank you for the link.
Gail, Thanks for your support!. Glad you got reeled in. And maybe you can volunteer to be a taste-tester if I ever figure out a good recipe for the anti-dinosaur version of zucchini bread!! We could meet up finally! Love this community and I was happy to send along the extra copies of that gorgeous book to two PF friends I knew would appreciate it, even if they had one and needed to share. I have always wanted to be a visual artist and I have enjoyed Michelle’s beautiful work for a long time. Her piece here is a powerful testament to the value of women. As you well know, Seneca Falls is nearby, as is Harriet Tubman’s home and grave. It gives one pause to remember, recognize and vow to carry on. Thanks again, Gail.
Awesome mixed media drawing, Michelle! Thanks for sharing your Summer Swap goodies. Enjoyed Janet’s poems. 🙂
Thanks, Jama!
Yes, here’s to nurturing women and their health rights! I’m hoping women get to the poles this year if it’s the last thing they do! Loved Janet’s poems. Such a celebration of summer and the joy in the ubiquitous zucchini!
Hi Janice! We are lucky to live in the land of Gage, Tubman, Anthony, Stanton and so many other strong and determined women. Glad you enjoyed the poems! Hope to see you soon or someday. Life has been busy. Was fun to swap but I got delayed! And my swaps from Michelle and Carol were a delight which I will share on Carol’s blog soon.
Michelle– congrats on having your art featured! I’m a fan of Janet’s zucchini poem too. Everyone I know in New England with a zucchini patch has been boggled by the size of them this year! Now, I want to bake zucchini bread…
Hi Sarah. The photo that inspired my poem can be found in THINGS WE EAT from Pomelo Books. It was one of those poems that kind of just wrote itself. And yes to wanting zucchini bread every time I re-read it. Hope yours turns out yummy. I truly enjoyed your blog post for this PF. I pop in and out, but my heart always lives here, yearning for the poets and friends in this community.
Congrats on having your art featured in the art show. It’s gorgeous. I have zucchini sitting on my counter waiting for it to be baked.
Oh, if you are also a great baker, Jone, maybe you can try to make a bread with those anti-dinosaur ingredients!! I have found one or two recipes with some of them online….just need a day to try out the variations and pray I can find someone who will eat them. I love my sister’s recipe for regular bread and I love zucchini. You are also an artist and writer. Isn’t it great having such happy ways to spend our time? And yes, bravo to Michelle!
Hahahahaha! Yes, call Grandma and make something yummy with that zuccini! What a bonanza of goodies in your swap. Thank you for sharing that. And, your mixed media is stunning. I’ve always wondered if the letters are drawn or stenciled in that type of art. I love mixing words into collage. I might need to take a class. I have so many questions! You continue to inspire me.
Thanks, Linda. I am hunting for a recipe to try to make some zucchini bread with all those ingredients I made up, I think it is doable. If successful, I will come back to share. I personally love zucchini!! I wrote to a photo of a little girl with her mom. The girl was holding a fairly large zucchini to her ear and mouth so it looked like an old-fashioned (well my generation) phone, and the idea just came to me! I love writing and sharing especially with someone like Michelle. I will share her swap on Carol Varsalona’s blog at some point. And yes to loving Michelle’s artistry in both her visual and poetic forms. This community is a wonderful place.
Michelle. congratulations for having your lovely, intricate mixed media in the exhibit of the Koehnline Museum of Art. The colors of the text are soft and vine around the woman providing a strong message for all. I love the tiny Pink-spotted Hawk Moth. I, too, was a recipient of Janet Fagel’s beautiful summer swap which I still need to showcase. It is wonderful having poetry friends who share their talents in our community. I always look forward to hearing about your accomplishments.
Thank you, Carol. It is a wonderful thing to be able to share our love of poetry, our own talents and be in the company of such warmly appreciative, giving and accomplished writers and artists. I look forward to connecting in person again someday at NCTE and also sharing on your blog! Yes, to everything Michelle. I love her work and love that she has a shop to buy especially her cards!! (I would have to display my art gallery style if I get it all hung, but I do have a spot!)
Janet, it is good to hear from you. I did not forget us adding a shared post to my blog. How about October 22nd? I will check in with you later.
Michelle,
Your art always inspires. Your colorful twisting vines, butterflies, birds, trees, flowers, etc. and now this gorgeous woman and message are always a delight to my eyes. Thanks for a nice display of the swap items! (I have to admit feeling a tad bit of guilt being delayed in getting it out to you, so thanks for being understanding.) I wanted to write a poem just for you but it did not happen in my overly busy summer. However I revised and revised my summer camping poem so that was a bonus. It’s a meaningful one to me because it brings me to my parents and childhood. And time in nature. I hope the Field Guide book will lead to some nice reflections and some poems may spring forth. I love it. Thanks again for your lovely swap, too.
As always so much goodness in your post, Michelle, but I particularly loved that opening ‘Nurture Nature’
Michelle, that portrait is arresting! And thanks for sharing Janet’s lovely poems. I especially love the campfire ending of that first one.
Thank you, Michelle and Janet, for sharing your prodigious talents! Speaking of prodigious, I love this time of year when “ball bat” zucchinis show up by the pallet-full at the grocery store!
I am bound and determined to try to come up with a recipe for my Dinosaur Zucchini Bread!!! It seems doable, I just have to do!!!! There are never too many zucchinis for me!!! Though my husband does not like it.
What a beautiful poem swap! I’m also looking forward to Georgia/Rebecca’s FIELD GUIDE (I’m in the middle of a workshop right now with them).