Illustrated Poems
Writing and drawing are inextricably linked for me. That goes for poems as well. One mode triggers the other and some poems started out as a drawing first until I was able to find the words. Here are a few examples.
Over the Hill and Through the Waves
First published in Leither Magazine in 2024 this is another poem and illustration inspired by dipping with Edinburgh Blue Balls.
My favourite line ever is referring to us as selkie ballerinos! I might need to come up with another Scottish water creature. There are loads to choose from. This is actually one of many poems that have been inspired by EBB including my poem on body positivity.
Trees
This poem was first published in the Dillydoun Review (RIP) in 2021. And, when the editor found out I had an image to go with the poem she actually requested if they could publish alongside the poem on their website. It was a great revelation that other people would be equally keen to see the connected images. Especially for such a soft and wonderfully meaningful poem.
It started out as an exercise with my therapist about happy moments from my childhood which mainly exists as impressions. The poem itself reflects those fragments of sensory impressions to generate the feeling. poem.
The illustration is actually the avatar of my older self walking hand-in hand with my younger self. A sort of self healing bridging the gap from those happy past moments to the present.
Selkie Man
Inspired by friends of mine, ‘Selkie Man’ is one of my favourites. It started with a mental image and eventually turned itself into words. The actual image of the selkie man combines multiple features from different friends. And those details like the twirly moustache and floppy hair all influenced the overall tone of the poem.
For the Love of Michael (2003)
This is a poem from my senior project in undergrad. I had been working in the Beinecke Library doing research on JM Barrie and became entranced in the life of Michael Llewlyn Davies, one of Barrie’s adopted children who sadly lost his life at age 21. I’d spent a few hours sketching portraits of Michael that I’d found in the library archives and the words of the poem began to form. This picture of a young Michael particularly captivated me as it is an impossibly ethereal portrait of a young man who died too soon.