I never guessed to find
At my age the Youthful Fountain
In a “Life Long Learning” class
Our program is to study
The art of Michelangelo
Freeing life from marble
We began like kindergarteners
With expectant faces seated
Around two tables set up end-to-end
Newsprint was spread before us
And then we all were given
A block of soap and tiny knife
Our instruction was to carve
Whatever we desired
Like Michelangelo, oh dear!
The last assignment and the best
Round the table as we sculpted
We told something of ourselves
I could do without the learning
And spend our class-time weekly
Carving soap and telling stories
poetrybyheart.me 
I wanted to see what you carved. Enjoyed your poem.
Thanks, Sabra. Actually I had a bar of Ivory soap which kept crumbling. I was aiming to carve a cubist sort of figure but accidentally lopped off one of its legs. I didn’t bring it home.
What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon! The camaraderie whilst carving (gawd, I would so suck at that!). Yes, to telling the stories…
The whole thing about carving is to have fun and see what appears. I have a friend who says as children we were all artists until second grade when some teacher told us we couldn’t draw or paint. He had workshops where we played with clay and reclaimed the artist within us. I love writing poetry because at least in the Word Press world there are no rules.
That is so true. Teachers sometimes hinder more than they help. Especially when it comes to creativity.
It sounds like so much fun…
And yes. When I found out poetry doesn’t have to rhyme and that there were many forms, then I tried my hand. Hasn’t been that long…
Dale, in your descriptions of encounters with life I feel your joy and your frustrations – and grieving. To me that is the heart of writing no matter the medium.
Sounds like a lot of fun. Do share photos of your carvings. 🙂
It was good fun. I haven’t used a camera since I had a Brownie box camera as a child hence no pictures. My carving reminded me of Paul Klee’s Hero With One Broken Wing. It was a cubist sort of figure with only one leg since I accidentally carved off the other one. I’m better at writing.
What a great class, I love the idea of telling stories while carving.
That was a one-time happening. Tomorrow we go back to the usual class-room model to learn about Michelangelo and his sculpting. Our text book is Irving Stone’s biographical novel “The Agony and The Ecstasy”, which I much prefer to a scholarly treatise.
Wow sounds like fun!
Yes. That was a special class. 🙂
Well, the good news is – soap is never wasted 🙂
To be creative – break the rules. Unless the aim is to clone.
Cheers!
Eric
I love discovering there are no rules in creating art.
Oh this is a good one. Thank you.
Yes, it was a special sort of class gathering. Unfortunately the next session was back to the usual. Glad there was at least one playful one.