A Legacy of Twelve - Poems by Quilter Dorothy Montgomery

Have you had a chance to read South Carolina quilter Dorothy Montgomery's 58 page poetry booklet "A Legacy of Twelve: Notes from a Musical Scale Create Many Styles of Music"? Her 2006 book includes images of five of Miss Montgomery's quilts - including this one on the book's cover. The poems mostly focus on musical themes as Miss Montgomery is a retired music teacher. My favorite poems are the two about Harriet Tubman. Enjoy!

Charlotte O'Neal - Quilter, Poet Touring the US

Sistah Quilter from Kansas City and Tanzania - Charlotte Hill O'Neal is in the United States touring to promote the Aaron Matthews film "A Panther in Africa." You may have seen the film on 2004 the PBS POV program. "A Panther in Africa" is the story of Charlotte's husband, Pete O'Neal. From the film's website:

On October 30, 1969, Pete O'Neal, a young Black Panther in Kansas City, Missouri, was arrested for transporting a gun across state lines. One year later, O'Neal fled the charge, and for over 30 years, he has lived in Tanzania, one of the last American exiles from an era when activists considered themselves at war with the U.S. government. Today, this community organizer confronts very different challenges and finds himself living between two worlds - America and Africa, his radical past and his uncertain future.

Charlotte is a dear woman - and incredible artist! She's in the USA touring with the film as well as signing her new 89-page book of poetry, Warrior Woman of Peace. It's available on Lulu.com for just over $10. To meet her in person, look for her in your city listed below. Enjoy!

• March 4 – 7 Hamilton College, New York
• March 7 She Art exhibit – Robert Frazier Gallery, Kansas City
• March 11 – 14 Ashe Cultural Center & other places, New Orleans
• March 15 Coppin Academy, Baltimore, MD
• March 18 Warrior Woman of Peace, book launch Robert Frazier Gallery, KC
• March 20 – 22 Portland, OR
• March 23 – 30 Atlanta, GA
• April 1 – 4 Washington Lexington High School, Seattle
• April 4 – 8 East Side Arts Alliance, Oakland, CA

Quilt, a poem, by Pittershawn Palmer

Quilt
by Pittershawn Palmer

The needle passes through your soul
Stitching together your thoughts and emotions
Slowly tying off the ends of your experiences
Binding together the things that try to fall apart

What began as a single entity with its own color and vibrancy
Now becomes part of a greater scheme or pattern
The personality of a single patch is meshed
Into an intricate web of many lives and deeds

Sometimes you can forget where you begin
And the other pattern ends
Do the borders change the story that is trying to be told?
Does life change the person that is trying to unfold?

A time capsule of many different intricacies
Spilling over decades of thread and cloth
Engulfed in a sea of pastels, earthtones, plaids and florals
Hoping for a colorfast life that does not bleed over

As your life hangs on a wall for all to see
You recall a time when your world didn’t seem so clustered
A book for all to read
But it doesn’t seem to matter anymore

Now worn, faded and aged
Some of the pieces cannot be recognized
You have almost forgotten some of the details
Yet, the essence of the matter remains

Whether on display or put away
Everyone remembers the time it took to create this life
Caring hands still care for the cloth
Understanding hearts hold the pieces together

Pittershawn was inspired to write this poem after viewing the movie "How to Make an American Quilt." Thank you Pittershawn for sharing! You can check-out her latest short story, The Letters, for only 49 cents on Amazon.com.

Lucille Clifton - Poet - $100,000 prize

Congrats to poet Lucille Clifton for winning the $100,000 US Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, for her lifetime achievements as a US poet. She's the first African American to win the award. Clifton is the author of "Quilting: Poems 1987 - 1990."

Beginner's Quilt by Geoffrey Philp

Recently I stumbled onto the poetry of Miami, FL poet, Geoffrey Philp and was heartwarmed by his Thanksgiving offering. Geoffrey has published Twelve Poems and A Story for Christmas, and the thriller, Benjamin, My Son. You know me, I had to ask if he'd composed any poems about quilting, quilts or quiltmakers. He had not. Then, to my utter surprise, a second email arrived hours later .... the poem below, composed yesterday about his mother and uncle. Thank you for sharing your words with us Geoffrey!

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Beginner's Quilt by Geoffrey Philp
(for Kyra)

When my mother began this quilt,
she started with the Roman Stripe,
the simplest pattern, so she could learn
to embroider even the most difficult fabrics:
my grandmother's torn comforter,
a shirt she starched and ironed over coals
for her brother's interview in Bethel Town
before he drowned, pieces
that had been abandoned
on the scrapheap, behind the dumpster,
the ones no one wanted
and weren't from the same color family,
for she could only see shades of light,
medium, and dark which she measured,
folded, and stitched into her tapestry of love.