POETRY & PROSE May 2025
When Artwork Comes Alive
Every month, this page will contain prose and poem contributions from “Writers in the Gallery” participants, from “Poetry in the Gallery” open-mic participants, from members of Studio Channel Islands, and from local writers in Ventura County. Selections are made by our literature review panel.
On May 7th, Robin Wallace, who curated the current gallery exhibit “Trans/Formed” hosted our group and we used the burnt objects on display to create short poems and micro-stories, including those that appear below.
Until the morning of November 6th, 2024, the objects on display were tools for living and creating. On that day, the preternatural forces of the Camarillo Mountain Fire burned down the home of Robin’s parents, turned those objects into another state of being, transformed by this catastrophic event. Whether functional or sentimental, machine or handmade, the history and functionality of these objects have been displaced by a patina that puts our own existence in perspective. Like us, they are survivors, unified by the scars of the fire.
Note: All work that appears in “Writers in the Galley” are copyright protected by the author and artist. They may not be reproduced by any means or posted online without permission from the owner of the work.
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After the Fire by Robin Wallace
Silence floods the mouth
of the violet inferno.
Drowns its toxic breath.
Stays a while, then gives way
to gentle winds and birdsong.
And we.
Immobilized.
Blinking.
Bewildered.
We are still here.
There’s no need to proclaim victory.
Clearly, we won.
Even though the heat
liquified our skin,
and twisted our bodies
from within,
and our parts,
the parts that held us together,
that made us sing,
that kept us upright,
that gave us purpose,
that you could touch,
that you knew best,
the squeaky door,
the passing shadows,
the rooms
where our roles came to life,
then left,
are now vapor,
residing in clouds
already on their way
to Mexico,
We are still here.
We, who you stored so carefully,
wrapped in your belief
this wouldn’t happen,
not in this way, not in this place,
We, who stayed faithfully.
Right where you left us.
We are still here.
Typewriter by Sophie Haviland
The first fire
smoke fell downwards from the ceiling
I reached for wallet and keys
You the typewriter
Billowing
I crawled with you down the stairwell
The fireman saved both cats
This one put up a fight he said
You held close invigorated wide
alive watching everything burn
I crouched in the street
A cipher of illicit prayer
A question mark on the curb
The second fire
We weren’t home
Our final pages strewn
across the bed
Our future written by hand
Purring cats
Pawing at the sunlight
Typewriter by Mark Waldman
… All the stories
I could have told …
Tangled by Christina Tovar-Hamernik
Hanging,
dangling and enticing.
Piano strings
hauntingly conspire.
Shadows,
like generations of memories,
tangled
In time and space.
Pleading
for us to create again.
From the Sketchbook of Mary-Gail King
Piano Strings, Unattached by Suzanne Freiberg
It doesn’t matter what I was
You can’t tell by looking at me now
I was once part of a family
Where do I belong now?
I am a frame without a picture
I am the strings of a piano
without an instrument
Where is my family?
What is my purpose?
I am a window with no view
I was once straight lines with function
Now twisted and transformed
I stand here naked, vulnerable and wounded
A story formed in flames
Daring to believe that I am a story to be told
Annealed by Fire by Marsha de la O
Schopenhauer said, “After your death
you will be what you were before your birth.”
And what is that?
An undivided cell? An atom?
A book with smooth black pages
annealed by fire to a shine in the darkness
as if paper were moonstone.
Some words ghost themselves visible
as though language were copper wire.
As though a book really were the universe.
My death is not far.
And the consolation is matter
and the consolation
is star-stuff
and our essential emptiness,
which might be happiness.
TWO POEMS by Nancy Spiller
(To the Piano Keys)
The time for practice is past
This performance of a lifetime
Let the rains come
And the rust rise
A conflagration has arranged the keys
In a chord of no more
(To the Serving Tray, Recipe Box, Bowl and Serving Fork)
The recipes for ash and rust and
The longing to be served
Beg the question: what was cooked up
In the lost kitchen
Beyond a burning desire?
Radiator by by Gerald Zwers
For 237,000 miles
It cooled a hot truck engine.
But this crumpled,
Melted,
Rusted radiator
Could not cool
The wildfire
CONTRIBUTORS:
Note: All work that appears in “Writers in the Galley” are copyright protected by the author and artist. They may not be reproduced by any means or posted online without permission from the owner of the work.
Sophie Haviland has been involved with experimental theater and film in NY and Europe for many years. She currently lives in Australia and is involved in food gardens, physiology and spontaneous creative endeavors.
Suzanne Freiberg is a science-based mindfulness coach committed to expanding the vision and reach of individuals and organizations.
Christina Tovar-Hamernik is a Midwest-raised Latina based in Ventura County. Guided by a passion for social justice, she brings policy expertise and lived experience to her consulting work in grant programs and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy.
Mary-Gail King is an artist, author, and educator based in Camarillo, California. She partners with arts organizations and schools to create dynamic, boundary-crossing experiences that spark creativity and reflection.
Mark Waldman is a neuroscience researcher, teacher, author of 14 books, and a founding member of the Bad Poet Society: “The deliberate attempt to write witty cringeworthy ‘bad’ poetry has shown me how to deeply savor the poetic works of others.”
Robin Wallace is a daughter, mother, sister, friend and wife to artists of many stripes. She became a lover of poetry while listening to her dad read Carl Sandburg at bedtime.
Nancy Spiller is a writer, author, exhibiting visual artist, recovering journalist, and long-time instructor with UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.
Marsha de la O is the author of two collections of poetry and winner of many poetry prizes, including the New Issues Poetry Prize, the Isabella Gardner Prize, the Marcus Memorial Poetry Prize, the dA Poetry Prize, and the Ventura Poetry Prize.
Gerald Zwers is an award-winning artist, author, host of “Coffee for Creatives”, and the 1st place winner of an international breakdancing competition. Pretty good for someone who’s slightly clumsy!