To make a portrait of a bird 

by Jacques Prevert

First paint a cage
With an open door
Then paint
Something pretty
Something simple
Something beautiful
Something useful
For the bird
Then place the canvas against a tree
In a garden
In a wood
Or in a forest
Hide yourself behind the tree
Without speaking
Without moving…
Sometimes the bird will arrive soon
But it could also easily take many years
For it to decide
Wait
Wait if necessary for years
The rapidity or slowness of the arrival of the bird
Has no connection with the success of the painting
When the bird arrives
If it arrives
Observe the most profound silence
Wait until the bird enters the cage
And when it has entered
Gently close the door with the brush
Then
Erase one by one all of the bars
While being careful not to touch any of the feathers of the bird
Then make a portrait of the tree
Choosing the most beautiful of its branches
For the bird
Paint also the green foliage and the freshness of the wind
The dust of the sun
And the noise of the creatures of the grass in the heat of summer
And then wait for the bird to decide to sing
If the bird does not sing
It’s a bad sign
A sign that the painting is no good
But if it does sing it’s a good sign
A sign that you can sign.
Then you gently pull out

One of the feathers of the bird
And you sign your name in a corner of the painting

Go to previous poems of the week by clicking the link below

Poem of the week…. Cargoes

Week Five

Invictus

WE Henley 1849 – 1903

Out of the night that covers me,   

  Black as the Pit from pole to pole,   

I thank whatever gods may be   

  For my unconquerable soul.   

   

In the fell clutch of circumstance

  I have not winced nor cried aloud.   

Under the bludgeonings of chance   

  My head is bloody, but unbowed.   

   

Beyond this place of wrath and tears   

  Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years   

  Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.   

   

It matters not how strait the gate,   

  How charged with punishments the scroll,   

I am the master of my fate:

  I am the captain of my soul.

 

 

 

Week Four

 Cargoes

By John Maesfield

Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

 

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

 

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

Week Three

Today 

By Billy Collins 

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,

indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

Week Two

The Lake Isle of Inisfree

WB Yeats
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

 

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Week One

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

by Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

 

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

 

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet – never – in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of me.

“

The Escape Artists (North Wales) is a community organisation making access to the arts easier for people who are furthest away from them.

Started in 2014, by two journalist colleagues – a writer and a photographer- we now have a fantastic team of artists, working in a wonderful range of media.

We  all really love what we do and want to share that with others.

2023 is our ninth year of making art.

We began by running the Altered Images art project for men in the probation system.  

Members of that group have had work exhibited in major galleries – including London’s Southbank  – won numerous Koestler Awards, and have sold work in gallery shops.

In 2019, Altered Images was one of five projects chosen to take part in Gwynedd Council’s evaluation of the health and wellbeing benefits of the arts, in conjunction with Bangor University.

Also in 2019, we ran our first Writing Competition for men and women from Wales who are in the prison and probation system. We were thrilled to have Welsh poet Laureate Ifor ap Glyn, playwright Rachel Tresize, and author and Radio 4 presenter, Horatio Clare as our panel of judges.

You can see our lockdown exhibition of photography, which was held at at Llandudno Rotunda (November, December 2021, January 2022) here

Meanwhile, our Still Life art groups for people who have been bereaved, started in Conwy, in October 2018, and Rhos on Sea in July 2019,.

These groups remained active – and indeed, flourished, -throughout the epidemic, with monthly art packs, despite CV19 and lockdowns.

Where there’s art there’s hope…

For the last 18 months we have been back in the room together and also ran our now legendary Ruby Tuesdays social group, a fun mix of music, wine and beer tastings, photography, art and talks.

Watch this space!

If you would like to know more, please contact us at escapeartistsnorthwales@gmail.com