Poems of Appropriation
Acknowledgement
The following poems were inspired by the “Art Calendar 2022” and lines from other poets. Each day a new image would appear on an art calendar given to me by my dear friend and fellow poet, David Delaney. Observing the image, I tried to create a poem that used lines from one or more poets whose work I admire. Some days it worked and some days it didn’t. This appropriation of others might be explained by the old adage: “Stealing from one person is plagiarism. Stealing from many is creative genius” (not that this is genius, but it is, I hope, creative).
A Suggestion
One way to approach these poems is to look at the art work first and notice the artist. Then after reading the poem, notice the poet whose lines also inspired the poem. There are connections there.
The Poems
About the Author
Mary A. Hood
Growing up in a small town in Louisiana in the 40s and 50s was not the most enlightening of childhoods but inspiration from extraordinary teachers, scholarships, and hard work lead to a PhD and a career in microbiology as a professor at the University of West Florida.
Working as a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe and Harvard Medical School, a visiting professor at Cornell and as a researcher at EPA Research Laboratories in Gulf Breeze, Florida allowed her to conduct research and to publish a number of articles in peer reviewed journals with her students and colleagues on microbial ecology.
Her interest in poetry started seriously when she joined several literary groups. They encouraged her to write and publish chapbooks and several collections of poems as well as to serve as poet laureate of Pensacola, Florida. As poet laureate she gave readings, workshops, and helped promote the literary arts.
Environmental and conservation issues have always been a concern of hers and when she began traveling the world, she observed what other countries were doing in conservation. She visited 50 countries (the last one being Greenland-the photo is her at the Thrym Glacier) and published her observations in a number of books (one example, “Rivertime” SUNY Press).
After years of teaching and doing research in microbiology, she retired and moved to the Finger Lakes region in New York where she is known as the author of “Walking Seasonal Roads” (Syracuse University Press), where she is active in the local and regional poetry communities and where she continues to write poetry.
Read more of Mary's work:
