by Robert “Bob” Bussey
There is a saying that Poetry is rooted in wonder and awe, and that poets with words bring that wonder and awe for the reader to enjoy. That might seem like poetry is rooted in fantasy, but that is not the case. While poets’ wonder, their wondering is many times, but not always, rooted in reality. Kate Adams is a good example of an artist who is able to wonder about the world around her and then place that wonder into painting and poetry. She feels that poets often intentionally write in vague, universal terms so that the reader can place themselves into the poem. Her artwork, a combination of surrealism and realism does much the same.
Some might say that her artwork has a magical quality that is intended to make the viewer happier, more content. When working on her poetry, she does not think about how others might perceive her work. She writes it and then puts it out in the public domain. The reader might actually get a completely different meaning (or message) from what she intended as she set the words to paper. She feels that poetry can be written both instinctually and also very deliberately. The deliberateness comes when that poet strives to use a particular form of poetry, like a sonnet or haiku poem. Those require intentionality, although there can be artistic freedom within each traditional form. Free verse poetry is more instinctual since it does not follow any set form. Kate writes mainly in free verse.
Kate has a bachelors in English and the Humanities from LSU-A. She studied under fellow poet and professor, Bernard Gallagher. She credits him with helping her refine her style (mainly free verse). She told me that he worked really hard to get her out of free verse and teach her other styles/forms of poetry. Instead of writing free verse all the time, he had her delve into more traditional styles of writing, such as sonnets, haikus, with emphasis on meters, rhyme scheme, form, feet, pentameter, and other “tools” for making poetry. Not just extended metaphors and personifications but also allusions, caesuras, assonance, irony … her studying under him was very structured, very intentional, and very beneficial at pushing her past her comfort zone as a writer and ironically enough, it was all that more regimented poetic training and learning, that led her to be able to “master” free verse in a way that yes has that same stream of consciousness freedom, but with elements of very intentional writing, such as references to older Greats’ work, or deliberate spaces, pauses, and other poetic techniques.
She told me that she would not have grown into or gotten “good at” had it not been for that more formal underlying education that Professor Galagher provided. He was both a teacher and mentor, giving her incentive, drive, and constructive criticism.
Her poetry takes a look at reality, even if it is ugly.
The first poem we discussed is titled “Art Is Dead.” The poem resonates on several different levels. On the grander scale it is about how we are so embedded into the digital age that the actual writing of poetry is dying. On a more personal level it is about how another poem, full of weak phrases, unstructured muck, won a contest over a poem that she had submitted. On that grander scale, it asks questions like, “What constitutes good art? What constitutes good poetry? What constitutes a good relationship?”
“Art is Dead”
you can’t eat, smoke or
drink it, and therefore it
is no longer
a commodity
the community
can afford
for every poem
of mine that
you make me burn
I will simply write
Another
That’s the thing
About unreliable
Narrators-
a man one wrote
a dramatic piece about his
wife leaving him – the closed door, the returned
key, in silence
left behind, the chalkiness of their love
impaled into potholes on the streets below
but all I could think
was what did you do
to make her
want to
disappear
The first stanza sets out the argument about how the digital age has become so darn material. If you can’t eat something, or smoke something, or perhaps view something from Facebook or TikTok, then it has become worthless. It’s simply not a commodity, not useful, not a tool to be used. It catches in those short words why the arts (music, painting, poetry, drama) are often the first things to go, to be thrown in the trash, when society (the community) is on tougher economic times.
How many schools have cancelled music classes, or cancelled band, but not cancelled football, or some other sport that brings in money? The second stanza brings out the poet’s rebellious nature. Even though there are those who would cancel out poetry, the poet will still keep churning out poem, after poem, after poem. The last several stanzas bring into focus the issue of failed relationships.
The dramatic piece could have been in a poem from one point of view, or in a movie, or in a painting. But Kate saw around the limited point of view and presented the view in just few words from the person who left the failed relationship. The twist at the end is instead of emphasizing the plight of the protagonist (the person left behind), emphasizing the plight of the antagonist (the person who left) … if you want to dissect the poem in ancient Greek terminology.
The poem asks, on another level, how hard is it to keep poetry in the mainstream.
The public wants to watch a video, or watch a 10 second clip on TikTok, and be done with it. However, the written word matters. So, the poem is about failed relationships, not just human to human, but also human to poetry, human to paintings, humans to art in general. (Art is Dead). It is a push for the truth, a prayer or wish that we can do better. Even if art is dead, she will continue to put art out into the public domain. Not just her, but all artists, all poets.
The second poem we discussed is titled “Neural Synaptic Prayer.” It combines biology (what happens in the synapses of your brain) with praying, with creating art, with writing poetry. The piece is somewhat autobiographical since it delves into how Kate decides what to paint, what to write, and what to put out into the public domain for others to see and hopefully enjoy.
“Neural Synaptic Prayer”
I’m taking a nature walk-
Looking at the naturally occurring cross
created by the intersecting cracks of old concrete;
Looking at the carcass of a dead bumblebee
Amidst a grove of golden rods, it looks
Almost alive, except for the eerie stillness.
Almost breathing, except for the way
It doesn’t sting me when I get too close-
Being a good artist
Wasn’t knowing what subject to paint
At what angle- in what colors, mixed, blended, and shaded
Or how to paint it win what techniques and strokes-
No.
Being a good artist was
Knowing what NOT to paint.
—what to omit, what to eliminate –
I’m staring at an antebellum porch
Large white columns, decorated
With garbage and clutter-
We eliminate the hoarding, we keep
The structure-
Being a good artist wasn’t knowing what to paint
It’s knowing what not to.
No one wants to take too close of a look at
Our own mess.
Or religion
Or –
Death
I’m painting a grove of golden rod,
The bee didn’t exist;
I’m painting the rye carving its way
Throught the sidewalk; the sacrifice didn’t exist;
I’m painting the plantation steps and the large
Oak tree for this newlywed couple; telling myself to focus on the beauty
–And to ignore that they are building a future foundation on
a past lined with bloodshed.
Being a good poet wasn’t knowing what to write about-
It’s knowing what not to.
It’s knowing what to omit.
What to eliminate.
What to leave out.
Sometimes you’ll creep into my mind
Like unorthodox hallelujahs and old deities.
Other-times you’ll set in like rigor mortis,
Other times still, you’ll read like
The grotesque history that’s present in the
Foreboding future.
Being a good person wasn’t knowing what to think about-
It’s knowing what not to.
And today I’m simply taking a walk around Walden’s pond.
I’m not trying to save the world from itself,
Or worse,
Allowing myself to
Think about
You.
In “Neural Synaptic Prayer” we get a chance to see how this particular artist/poet thinks. As she told me, she is not afraid to look at the ugly side of life, but likes to present the opposite, especially in her art work. The poem first sets the stage of taking a simple nature walk, something most of us have done at one point or another. It creates a warm image, but then turns quickly to death, something most of us don’t like to speak about. The death is of a simple bumblebee, but death, nonetheless. Death is surrounded by beauty … the grove of golden rods. She then takes another scene, the beauty of a southern antebellum home but littered with trash. Again, a juxtaposition. Beauty and trash in the same scene. She paints the plantation steps and large oak tree, while wondering about slavery that most likely existed at this plantation before the Civil War. And even wonders about how a wedding could ever take place at such a place with such a grotesque history.
But she paints the beauty while in her synapses confronting the ugly side. You can feel the stream of consciousness that she is using when she flips back to the scene with the bumblebee but chooses to paint only the beauty of the golden rod field. It’s easy to look at the beauty, hard to look at the death. The poem continues with other contrasting ideas/issues. In poetry…what words to print, what words to eliminate. Then at the end of the poem she delves into a failed relationship and how that failure inevitably creeps back into her consciousness, as grotesque as it might have been. Simply no way to avoid it. It is embedded in the synapses of her brain. But she ends up rejecting the grotesque failed relationship and takes us back to the sublime walk-through nature … the walk around Walden’s Pond. If you re-read the poem and think outside the box, you will find that it’s not JUST about failed romantic relationships but the parts of even platonic human relationships that can turn toxic or rob us of our peace. For example, if you have a falling out with a friend due to some terrible situation, and your thoughts want to be consumed with, thoughts of revenge or justice or just ANGER that impacts our present life and day to day decisions; or even, familial wise — if we think or overthink about the trauma acquired in childhood to the point where we sacrifice the present moment and our future because of it … and YES, there is a romantic layer there TOO but that’s ONLY one side of the kaleidoscope; romantically through the lens, yes, there is loss and failed relationship but more so it’s the regret, it’s the self-discipline of not looking back only forward.
It is often said that you really don’t know someone until you know what goes on with them behind closed doors. I’m not sure that is the case with Kate Adams. She lets you see what is going on behind her closed doors quite readily in “Neural Synaptic Prayer.”
We discussed two other poems, but with limited space, I simply am setting out one of them at this time. I think you will enjoy it. It rings many bells.
“Letter To My Therapist”
i’ve had this poem
gnawing at my insides
for days now, maybe decades
like a hungry caterpillar
trying to maw its way out of an untimely
chrysalis – there’s a trail of ulcers
in the wake
for every word I swallow
versus regurgitate
i forgot what I was
going to say
how is your liver
still functioning? mine gave
its notice 10 years ago after
a particular strong cup of Joe
I wondered at times if alcohol
poisoning was like second hand smoke;
If you grew up surrounded by enough of it-
could the environment embed itself into your
tissues, your cells, your soul,
causing chaos, decay, damnation
like everything around you
I blame my failing heart on
my family’s addictions
maybe I can’t say
I love you
because it sounds too much like
I lost you
and maybe I’ve lost too much
already
Kate Adams’ poetry can be found via LSU-A Verbatim. National Poetry Month | Louisiana State University of Alexandria. She is is a Cenla native and an LSU-A alumni. She has had nonfiction short stories published 4 separate times in
the National Best-Selling Book Series “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” She was voted as one of Louisiana”s Best Emerging Poets for 2 consecutive years through ZPublishing House. She also has a poetry book in the works- “Go Save Yourself”
with no publication date in sight at this time. You can also find her art work, her paintings, at the Natchitoches Art Guild and Gallery, and at her web site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheAsterArtistStore. You can also find her on TikTok, search for @theasterartist. You can also find her on Facebook. Some of her paintings are displayed in this article. Besides poetry and painting, Kate has also started to delve into play writing. She has written 4 theatre plays and had them produced and staged through Alexandria’s local theatre annual Ten Minute playwriting Festival competition through Spectral Sisters Theatre Company.
