Thursday, April 14, 2011

Book Recommendation

I'm reading this book on creativity which I love. Entitled Pencil Dancing: New Ways to Free your Creative Spirit by Mari Messer. I enjoy the unique titles she has for her individual groups of chapters: Creativity 101: Practicing the Basic Steps, Polishing your powers of observation, Creating with your whole self, Losing your Logical Mind, Freeing your Creative Elves, Befriending your beasts, Creating from the Inside out, and Dancing with your Creative Spirit. Check it out, I bought a hard back copy for less than $3 at Amazon.com plus postage.

I guess being a former dancer in another lifetime I can identify with her word images. It's interesting I have discovered at least four different individuals in my area who are now poets and writers after having had a career as a dancer/teacher when they were younger at my college-BYU. After your body can no longer dance, it's helpful to express yourself in words. One of my classmates died recently, suddenly after surgery, because of unknown heart problems. I wrote a poem for her.

Helen Keith Beaman 1935-2011

Helen, my dear sweet friend, now gone
Memories remain of your goodness
Years ago we danced together at BYU
Modern dance pioneers indeed and loving it

You were short and I was very tall
But we managed to do a duet on an
Exciting revolving stage in the new
Harris Fine Arts Building on campus.

Now you’ve gone on to where angels dwell
Still dancing I’m sure, as your spirit allows
And watching over kin and family daily
during this brief separation called death