ringing of the bards #9 a'la Sam Duffy's Stuff

this edition of The Ringing of the Bards is brought to you through the grace and beauty Miss Sam Duffy of Miss Sam Duffy's Stuff and Stuff.

i approached Miss Sam Duffy via email a few weeks back, asking her if she'd give me permission to make her the "thematic centerpiece" for the 9th ringing of the bards. she agreed under my conditions (which i am very very pleased to see, everyone in this week's carnival has abided by, thank you!). as a result, what follows is a magnificent emotional journey by way of some truly fine poetry and the collection of gorgeous drawings, paintings and collages by Miss Sam Duffy that inspired the poets whose work is featured.

the poems, combined with the dramatic visuals provided, are so emotionally motivating and rigorous. as a result, i am not going to weigh the featured works down with introductions, synopsis, opinions or lip service. instead, i am going to stimulate your retina with a selection of the inspirational images that the featured poets have selected to write in response to for this carnival.

(except for one nod to scott glassman of 30 Days: poem for introducing me to Miss Sam Duffy's work in the first place. thank you scott!)

each of the images are arranged with the poet's name and poem's title with hyperlinks directly below. each of the images is loaded as if a button. click on the image here and it will direct you to the post on Miss Sam Duffy's blog where you can then view the larger version of the image.

sarah's darkness
by ozymandiaz of paper tigers

the last flower
by shirley of housemouse

prompted
by bob hazelton of average poet

saloon
by scott glassman of 30 Days: poem

ant hill schematics
by katy of somethingkaty

balloon air
by russell ragsdale of yuckelbel's canon

triptych centerpiece
by russell ragsdale of yuckelbel's canon

who's there?
by russell ragsdale of yuckelbel's canon

angelic
by ashraf of arch.memory

sara the fairy
by our mayor billy of bloggingpoet.com

face in the mirror
by mike of unknowing mind

yes, russell sent me three submissions ^__^ and yes, i included one of my own.

i do hope you enjoyed the poems here as well as the artwork provided to us all by the lovely Miss Sam Duffy. i extend you all the invitation to visit her blog and explore her artwork. i would also like to extend an invitation to all blogging poets who missed out on this particular carnival to write a poem inspired by Miss Sam Duffy's stuff and send me a link so that i can add it onto this carnival's roster. it's a brilliant exercise for a poet to participate in, and the results, as you have seen here, are remarkable.

next week's ringing is brought to you by everyone's favorite squishy-faced kitty avatar with attitude: Ozymandiaz of Paper Tigers!! send your poetry submissions to daniel at ozymandiaz @ danworld . com by friday-ish next week.

just one more time before i go: thank you Miss Sam Duffy!!

and now... goodnight cherubs!