New Jewelry!

I've been keeping busy lately, with school starting--teaching a class, taking two classes-- and working, working, working. Self care right now is REALLY important! Here is some jewelry that I've been working on....




I'm excited about this set, because it can hold little pictures. I'm not sure whose pictures will be in the frames, but I'm excited about figuring that out!





I have a friend who has a birthday really soon. This pair I made for her birthday! I'm pretty excited about the combination I came up with! Here's another picture of it:



Tonight, I made a softcover poetry book. Stay tuned for pics of that (and some pics of some other sundry books I've made!)

Thanks for visiting! And, stay tuned!

Tracey

flooding with clowns

This is one of the books I've made recently. Here's a top view of it.












Here's a side view.














I wrote a poem to include in the book. The poem is "flooding with clowns." The title came from an experience with a story a friend of mine told me. The following pics are of the inside of the book.








flooding with clowns (the text)

silence is compliance
forgetting is protection
winding
winding
winded
wounded
internally grateful:
forget-no-mores can be painful & healing
locked in the bedroom closet close to dinner time
but dining on that green vegetable with the boy’s name doesn’t appeal
the only place for alone time

place & time & time & place
put that into another place
place it in another time

it’s all the same eventually
memories get caught up & caught up again

the narrator is elusive
the protagonist changes in each scene
patterns are patterns in green
patterns are patterns in orange
patterns are patterns in lavender spots

look through the keyhole
when he thinks no one is watching
happiness comes with a bundle of compromise
but only through the keyhole
when no one is watching

the face gets larger & larger & larger &
it haunts dreams & wakefulness
the face gets smaller in a POP!
an implosion of thought & contradiction
an inevitable fancy
like a clock or a hippopotamus yawning
warnings come in big & small letters
hunting & haunting till they are read

the face gets larger & larger & larger again
an explosion of thought & completion
undeniably
it’s a cross between a clothes pin & a planter
warnings come & go & go & come
till they are

warnings are big & small voices
that are heard & not heard
heard & herded
till they are

the lessons are terminal
awareness is intrepid
skating between
what is heard, seen, & known
eventually, it all dries up

a long-term bout with
construction-workers in white collars
reality is managed through tiny lenses
that suggest severe myopia
congratulations are in order on a new design

the only way out sometimes is to get outside the box
step in the sun (or rain)
until you can feel it on your skin—
your nose, your hands, your forehead—
the face gets larger & larger

laugh & walk away
that’s how it’s done in yoga

written by: Tracey M. Gagne

Poetry

Check out the Atlanta Poets Group web site (link on the left of this page). There were some sound files recently posted there, including three of mine.

Here's a little bit about the poems:

tic edge exit-- a poem from a collection I'm working on called _pickled fir grins_. I've not been working on this one in several weeks, because of other things, but it's a project I'm excited about. I'm responding to songs from one of my favorite singers.

take the wrong way home: or, how i learned to love the bomb-- a poem from a collection that I started about a character named bud mcmanaman. It's a pretty narrative collection and at this moment contains three characters (and two poems-- I actually have another one somewhere, but I wrote it at work, and I can't seem to find the paper I wrote it on....)

we all have our slashes-- a poem that stands on its own... maybe!

Now, there are some other great poems on there by two other great poets. Please check them out!!

Tracey

Update

I know I said that I'd be sharing what I've been doing on here, and there hasn't been an update in more than a week.

Here's what I've been doing:

1. I made a bracelet and ring set. It's kinda cool, because both the bracelet and the ring can hold a small picture (well the bracelet can hold five or so). I made this for a gift, but I've not figured out who to give it to or what pictures to slide in. More fun to come with this! I'll post pics once I've finished the pieces off and taken pics!

2. I wrote a poem called "flooding with clowns" and am currently gluing it into a book I made several weeks ago. So far, it looks pretty cool, but it isn't finished.

3. I've written quite a few poems for my chap _resipiscent_- which will be out in October. I have only eight more poems for that collection.

4. I've made three books, too, in an attemtpt to get comfortable with different ways of binding books. I made one softcover whose binding I sewed, and two hardcovers. I'm having SO much fun with this!

I've been busy otherwise, trying to ready myself for the start of another school semester, too--reading, preparing a syllabus, etc. All good stuff! As the weather begins to think about getting cooler (because let's face it, it isn't really cooler in Atlanta), I'm beginning to think about knitting projects-- finishing the sweater for the baby that I started in the Spring and some other fun activities.

I've got lots of great ideas! I'm hoping to get some pics up here, soon! Keep posted!

Tracey

Pam's Quilt

Okay, in my first post, I said that I'd include pictures of stuff I've made, but I just had to include this quilt that my aunt Pam made for me, because it's SO cool! I don't make quilts myself, so I'm really impressed. I'm particularly impressed with how the quilt is such a complete picture of me! She obviously put a lot of time and thought into this project, and that makes me even more excited to both have it and share it with others. She's quite talented! I wonder if it runs in the family!



This is a big part of the corner, to give an idea of the overall quilt (although it's folded.) You'll notice a lot of purple, since that's my favorite color and has been for YEARS! She added a little orange for her own favorite color. Notice the big circles in the design. Apparently, there are a lot of different kinds of patterns for quilting, and she chose this one specifically for this quilt.



This one is a little close-up on that same corner. Notice the cats. There are a lot of cats in this quilt, since I like cats so much. The purple border around the entire quilt is of cat prints, and the next-in border is of cats, too.



This corner has books and butterflies, which Pam included because she knows how much I like to read. She said that the butterflies in the design are indicative of the transforming nature of reading....

She's smart, too! I think that runs in the family, too!

Thanks so much, Pam, for this beautiful present! It's so beautiful!

Tracey

from PANMIXIA

This poem is from my first chapbook, panmixia (n. interbreeding without limitation), published on Euphrasie Press in February, 2007.










chatoyant
(adj. having a changeable luster | n. a chatoyant gemstone)

don’t forget the envelope with the heart in it
each time there’s a
flooding of emotional
gallantry at the apex of all t
hings
idolatrous—
just in case you do forget—
kindness comes in packages stuffed with mer
lot & s’
mores
nobody had dinner at the
opening of the envelope; there was a
porcupine-colored se
quined delapidator
rusting in the corner &
saving good intentions
till later when
underde
veloped
words e
xclaimed their presence like egg
yolks that have hatched beneath
zebras on
all-exclusive paid vacations with vampire
bats &
cruella deville isn’t just a cadillac



If you would like to read more, please let me know! I'd be happy to send a copy! (Note: resipiscent (adj. having returned to a saner mind) will be completed and ready for distribution in October, 2007. Keep posted!) If you'd like to see another poem from panmixia, please click on the link to Atlanta Poets Group.

Thanks!
Tracey

Introduction

The intention for this blog is to share what I create. I have recently created my first book on my own. My life-long friend, Andrea, whose own blog will be linked to this one soon enough, introduced me to book-binding a few weeks ago. She and I have been sharing our crafty and writing things for most of our lives-- we've shared fictional writing, poetry, knitting, cross-stitch, sewing, jewelry-making, and now book-binding. When her link is up, I urge you to check her out, because she's very clever and talented!

Also, keep posted here, as I intend to update this soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

tmgagne