Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Once upon a time I was a miserably unhappy woman. Newly out of a stiffling marriage, with no valid employment skills, I had enrolled in college, three young children in tow, and was striving to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, and passing grades to my name. Exhausting. Highly stressful. At the end of the first semester, I was given the amazing opportunity to attend a Writer's Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. A week all to myself, no children, no major responsibilities, just the chance to immerse myself in words. Glory!!! The resident poet at the conference was Adrienne Rich, and her words resonated deep within my spirit. She spoke to my need to have an independent life that I created for myself, where I would succeed or fail on my own merits. Today I can still close my eyes and see her sitting on the grass under a Live Oak Tree, Spanish Moss tendrils trailing in the breeze of a hot Georgia day, reading poem after poem to us and talking about her creative experience. I pulled up that mental image, and her poetry, often during my undergrad and master's programs, and always her words and that memory buoyed my hope and determination and helped me to keep on keeping on.

Thus, as I am beginning the creative process for a very special art project, it seemed natural and right to turn again to her words. The art piece on which I'm starting today is for a year long exchange, which I know is going to be one of the primary joys of 2008 for me. Facilitated by the AlteredArtSwap Yahoo Group, 12 artists, myself included, have each chosen a theme which has personal meaning to us. On the first day of the month, we are each assigned a partner for the month and are to create a two page spread interpreting our partner's theme. Sandee is my January partner, and her theme is "Favorite Poet." To which I reply, Adrienne Rich, of course. The difficulty was in narrowing it down to only one poem, and I've spent untold hours in the past week re-reading Rich and pondering which of her works I want to illustrate. Last night I went to bed still unsure which poem and how to create an appropriate art work. You guessed it, I dreamed the answer. . . Aunt Jennifer's Tigers. All morning I've been selecting and playing with images, and I'm about ready to put glue and stamps and embellishments to paper to visually represent the following words.

Aunt Jennifer's Tiger
By
Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.