SPARK

Hildie S. Block and Marilyn Ackerman

Marilyn Ackerman Phaedra Inspiration piece Phaedra, oil on canvas By Hildie S. Block Response Taking my fiancé and my step.mother.in.law.to.be to the Museum of Modern Art for Mother’s Day is not …

Tora Estep and KJ Hannah Greenberg

Tora Estep Inspiration Piece Until Exhausted KJ Hannah Greenberg Response Piece Women fight back; words, Alimony, poisoned teacups, Until collapsing, exhausted. Thereafter, tatters of hairstyles, Sensible shoes, refusals: no more Long shifts, sexual submission, Reliance on …

Patricia Morningstar and Susan Bee

Susan Bee “Water” Inspiration Piece Maggie’s Dream By Patricia Morningstar Reponse The night Maggie met Sergei, she had a dream. If there was one thing Maggie detested, it was dreams. …

Britt Anderson and Amy Souza

Amy Souza Inspiration Piece Escape to the Woods Britt Anderson Response Phone rings An accident Thank goodness the ambulance came so fast He wasn’t breathing Mom cries Complicated emotions He wasn’t perfect but Now he is broken, …

Kristi Conley-Brockie and Olivia Olivia

Kristi Conley-Brockie Response Olivia Olivia Inspiration piece Don’t Be Sad In Lisbon Don’t be sad in Lisbon. Don’t be sad you might be forgotten. Don’t be sad no one you …

Charles Waters and Jane Hulstrunk

Untitled Jane Hulstrunk (Inspiration Piece) Vacation Charles Waters (Response) Grassy drenched bedbug Dissolves into foliage … poof Nature’s magic track.

Olivia Olivia and Kristi Conley

Living Tower, ink on paper – Kristi Conley (Inspiration Piece) ——— Reiko Olivia Olivia (Response) I have a love for quiet, small things. I think of her when I see snails in …

Susan Bee and Patricia Morningstar

Escape Susan Bee Response Inspiration Reading In Patricia Morningstar Words whispered around her like a stiff autumn wind. Imogene felt as though she would stop breathing. Her knees ached, as did …

Diane Mayr and Charles Waters

The Corner Diane Mayr Response Victory Charles Waters Inspiration piece A fusillade of knuckles were the culprits of my now blue, black flesh. Narrow streams of red trickle down my sprouted bottom …

Tyson West and GarrettBrunker

Garrett Brunker Response A FEW AT HARRINGTONS Tyson West I could never count —————————————————— The number of times my old lady Threw me out of the house Let alone ever pull A passing grade in …

Barbara Duarte Esgalhado
and Susan Bee

Susan Bee “Bliss Dancer” Photograph of Bliss Dance sculpture on Treasure Island, San Francisco Permission By Barbara Duarte Esgalhado Response There is something peculiar about a dress turned inside out. With seams agape, unabashed it …

Susan Bee and
Barbara Duarte Esgalhado

Susan Bee “After Rainfall” Response Cicatrix By Barbara Duarte Esgalhado Inspiration piece Cicatrix: 1. a scar resulting from formation and contraction of fibrous tissue in a flesh wound. 2. a mark resembling a …

Matthew Levine and Robert Haydon Jones

Matthew Levine “The Kiss” Response Audrey By Robert Haydon Jones Inspiration piece The amazing thing about the kiss is that every time you see it – the instant their lips touch – …

Robert Haydon Jones and Matthew Levine

Matthew Levine “Whispering Pines” Inspiration piece Photo Finish By Robert Haydon Jones Response If there were a guy who would suddenly pop up in front of you with a slate with …

Bette Hileman and Abigail Vaughan

Abigail Vaughan Inspiration piece Feathers By Bette Hileman Response Stiff feathers not quite real in pale pastels decorate hats from the Forties. Unbending, thick— unlike bird feathers— they circle crowns, enclosing lives. The hats, secured by sharp pins, almost fall …

Elizabeth Wexler and Caroline Harrison

Caroline Harrison Inspiration piece Waiting For Spring By Elizabeth Wexler Response I walked by the blooms Inhaling the sweet nectar of spring It had been a long, cold winter. Yet We knew that under …

Marcia Cole and Becca Biggs

Marcia Cole “Lilac Sky “ Response Dark Pinecones By Becca Biggs Inspiration piece When I was young, I thought I would be famous. Yet it wasn’t something I worked at, like scaling a mountain lifting …

Sukia and Jules Rolfe

Sukia Response Following the Ground Ivy Jules Rolfe Inspiration piece She’s taken over our backyard Like we’ve grown into our souls running under the foundation of the grass until …

Jules Rolfe and Sukia

Sukia Inspiration piece Totem By Jules Rolfe Response Tears have the same salt as seawater When I ride among the trains and bees and buses listening to the …

KJ Hannah Greenberg and Jules Rolfe

Jules Rolfe Inspiration piece Peach Pit Bridges By KJ Hannah Greenberg Response Stacking bits, pits of our lost decade’s Nights spent wondering on preserving Memories, can’t bring that time …

Jules Rolfe and KJ Hannah Greenberg

Jules Rolfe Response Hip Hop Music among the Branches By KJ Hannah Greenberg Inspiration piece They played hip hop among the branches. The birds did. Winging sometimes …

Christina Brockett and Gina Katz

Gina Katz Inspiration piece Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid By Christina Brockett Response The jazz background music floated through the large ballroom. The scent of old money and power …

Sharon A. Murphy
and Lisa Kilhefner

Lisa Kilhefner Inspiration piece Salmon By Sharon A. Murphy Response Your colors startle me, silver scales, copper ripples in the water Jumping higher into the waterfall, glistening gills, variegated tails thrashing in air. Extinction into exaptation. You’ve …

Marilyn Ackerman and Helen Lewis

Marilyn Ackerman Response The First Leaf of Autumn By Helen Lewis Inspiration piece i Phaedra the wood nymph sings and dances, showering the glade with rose petals. She is naked …

Gina Katz and Christina Brockett

Gina Katz “Frustration” Response “The Key” By Christina Brockett Inspiration piece The back door creaked accompanied by the thump of a backpack full of books hitting the floor. The refrigerator door …