/* */ Beulah Bee: Stop Writing

March 31, 2015

Stop Writing



This month's theme at Art Journal Journey is a favorite poem or quote and I made a page to show how the words of a poem can say one thing but really mean another.

The poet is not writing about laundry or woman's work. She's writing (as if talking to herself) about the pain of losing her husband.


To illustrate, I pasted the real meaning of the poem in tiny white print over the images and since my photos are hard to read, I've written the poem below along with some of the tiny text:

I Stop Writing the Poem

to fold the clothes. No matter who lives
or who dies, I'm still a woman.
I'll always have plenty to do.
I bring the arms of his shirt
together. Nothing can stop
our tenderness. I'll get back
to the poem. I'll get back to being
a woman. But for now
there's a shirt, a giant shirt
in my hands, and somewhere a small girl
standing next to her mother
watching to see how it's done.


Something very serious has disturbed the poet's life (she's stopped writing). Someone close to the speaker has died (no matter who lives or dies). She uses busy work to keep from thinking about it (has plenty to do). Death won't stop them from being close (brings the arms of the shirt together).

She senses that her creativity and expression, as well as her sense of being a woman will eventually return, even if they are altered by the experience (I'll get back to the poem/being a woman). There may be a pause in her writing, but his departure is forever. The size of the shirt (giant) equals her vast sense of loss.

Her strength comes through because she knows how to regain her confidence. She needs a mentor and will find someone to lead her out of her misery (a small girl standing next to her mother watching to see how it's done).

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It's amazing how so much is said in just a few, well-chosen words!

Poetry is an elevated art form I have always appreciated and it was fun to create using paper and paint to compliment it. I hope you will journal about a favorite poem or quote this month and link up with Art Journal Journey so I can see what inspires you!