quiet paws.

I know I’ve written before about how much I adore the words and beautiful ceramics created by Kylie Johnson, but after recently purchasing her gorgeous book ‘count me the stars‘, well I just couldn’t help gushing once more… That’s the thing about really great poetry and really great poets, they get under your skin, grab hold of your heart and stay with you forever.

This book is a true joy to behold and an absolute delight for all the senses. From the textured navy cloth cover scattered with glittery silver stars, to the place-keeping ribbon and on to the various fonts and formats applied to the enchanting words within… the hands, mind, heart and eyes cannot be anything but captivated.

While I have fallen head-over-heels with each and every one of her beautiful poetic verses, I wanted to share just a couple with you here (but you should buy her book so you can read the rest for yourself – I don’t want the other poems feeling left out).

If I were a word I would hope and wish for nothing more than to be a word crafted and carefully placed by such a talented poet as this. Her words leave me speechless …

So in the past few months I feel that perhaps I’ve been a little luckier than usual. I’ve entered a few competitions, and have actually been fortunate enough to win! One such competition was for this Paul Dempsey prize pack (thanks to theinsound.com – for which I wrote a short and sweet poem (well more short than sweet as poetry is not exactly my forte). I was as surprised as anyone when I was chosen as one of two winners to receive a signed 2 CD limited edition of ‘Everything Is True’,  including the four song disc ‘Counterfeits and Forgeries’; an exclusive t-shirt featuring album artwork, and a letterpress print of Paul Dempsey’s handwritten lyrics to ‘Ramona Was A Waitress’.

There has always been a ‘certain something’ about Paul Dempsey’s voice that I find completely irresistible, even though for many years I’ve strangely resisted the music of Something for Kate (the band he is lead singer of).

With the release of his debut solo album however, I feel I can finally shake off past resistances and melt into his music. If you’d like to melt along with me, perhaps you should visit Paul’s site and investigate his music (and his amazingly emotive and enticingly masculine voice) all for yourself.

There are so many beautiful things in this world to appreciate. High on this list are the extraordinarily talented people creating absolutely wonderful things with their hands, hearts and heads.

Poetry is something I adore. I love the different ways in which poems can speak to us – some remind us of our own experiences, others challenge our narrow view of the world, and still more again can simply astound with their pleasant pattern and rhythm of words.

Kylie Johnson is a Brisbane creative who applies her varied poetic and artistic talents to beautiful ceramics (including ornaments, jewellery, tags and labels), art prints, pencils and many written words. A common theme which runs through many of her pieces is a respect for the beauty of words, which could otherwise be described as poetry.

I recently indulged my love of both poetry and art by purchasing two limited edition Kylie Johnson prints which feature her beautiful words. The print above is entitled ‘Layers’. I also picked up a print of ‘Our Home‘ which is just as lovely. Even though the print above is currently looking a little Laura Palmer (ie. still wrapped in plastic), I hope you are still able to enjoy…