One of my poems, "The Salvage Yard", was chosen by Mary Doyle, a Northwest artist, for inspiration for a new artwork in this year's Ars Poetica competition and exhibition:
“The Salvage Yard”
Artist: Mary Doyle
Inspired by poem
“The Salvage Yard”
Poet: John Delaney
The Salvage Yard
That’s where my poems go.
Put out to pasture.
Exposed to the elements.
Left to rust beneath the sky
or destined for scrap metal.
But you never know.
Just the other day
a guy came looking
for a tire rim
for his Volkswagen Variant.
A rare model notchback.
And I had one for him.
Why I chose this poem: Artist Mary Doyle. “The poem ‘The Salvage Yard’ reflects an idea that echoes throughout my work: beauty can come from unlikely or unexpected places. I appreciate the line ‘but you never know’ and hope it awakens. What one of us creates may be just what another person needs; though the waiting can leave us discouraged or feeling ‘left to rust beneath the sky’ , what we put into the world, great or small, matters.” Media: Mixed media (using salvaged items)
What inspired me to write this poem: Poet: John Delaney. “I went to the Mardi Gras in 1973 in a Volkswagen Variant I had purchased in Denver. I had never seen one before. But I needed a new tire rim and spent a long time on the outskirts of New Orleans in a huge salvage yard. I couldn’t believe that they had what I needed. I feel poems salvage moments, people, places, things –and are just waiting for the right reader.”