SPARK

Jane Hulstrunk and Lauren B. Flax

Jane Hulstrunk Response Hive By Lauren B. Flax Inspiration Piece They assured me that the hive was dead. With each strike of the sledgehammer, pieces of plaster fall away from …

Marla Deschenes and Kristi Conley

Kristi Conley Pianos Inspiration piece Forgotten Music By Marla Deschenes Response Forgotten music The casualties of faster, cooler cars Rock star hair, and screeching tight guitars. Casualties of nothing more Than popular and whim. The sunshine …

Val Bonney and Amanda Whitener

Amanda Whitener Inspiration piece Forever Perfect Val Bonney Response There was a standard, before you left, of perfection surpassing all other degrees of beauty held to be perfect. Plump-cheeked flesh more downy-soft than any peach and rosebud lips; eyes …

Frank Gibson and Neil Ellman

Frank Gibson Response Evolution By Neil Ellman Inspiration piece When there is no life In empty seas Desolation lives With possibilities Of single cells That multiply Becoming multitudes Becoming eyes and mouths From fins that swim To feet that …

Dale Leffler and Greg Adkins

Greg Adkins Dale Leffler Response Piece Hand Over Hand So there it is, the challenge do I still have the hand strength, shoulder strength, the strength of will? Hand over hand, do …

Greg Adkins and Dale Leffler

Greg Adkins Dale Leffler Inspiration Piece My Path My path has not been straight. I have stumbled over many stones, lost my way too often to share without shame and …

Theresa Kulstad and
Jewel Beth Davis

Withdrawal By Jewel Beth Davis Inspiration piece When the Blue Angel walked into the throne room to check on the Creator, he was concerned to see Him reclining …

Elizabeth Cordes
and Gwynne Mason

Gwynne Mason He Said He Was No Longer Interested In Me Handmade plant fiber papers made and decorated by the artist, mounted on a handmade silk tapestry, mixed media. Inspiration Piece Sea …

Lauren B. Flax and Jane Hulstrunk

Jane Hulstrunk Inspiration Piece Lauren B. Flax Response Piece Flight There are so many ways of taking flight Paper wings turn glassy in the glare of summer day Silky wings fold thickly …

Neil Ellman and Frank Gibson

Castle with Sun By Frank Gibson Inspiration Piece A Goddess Once By Neil Ellman Response Where a fortress stood Beside the alien sea Arrogant towers Turrets pointing To the sky As if in prayer Defend their gods And …

Carl Rauscher and BR Belletryst

Woodland Sprite By BR Belletryst Inspiration Piece Sunset By Carl Rauscher Response She appeared in my room after the nurse departed and sat on the edge of the bed, her …

Phyllis Weissman
and BR Belletryst

Photograph By BR Belletryst Inspiration Piece For the Love of Liana By Phyllis Weissman Response Liana stood on the deck of her beautiful home waiting for the love of her life, …

Maureen O’Donnell
and Christina Brockett

View Through The Geraniums By Christina Brockett Inspiration Piece Perspective By Maureen O’Donnell Response Piece Jack The dinghy rocks gently under his weight. Jack nestles into the small cockpit, meant for one …

KJ Hannah Greenberg
and Janet Yandik

Janet Yandik Inspiration piece Vitreous Recollections: That Summer’s Glaze By KJ Hannah Greenberg Response Familiar delight, miniature cyncephalus, Who expertly sidestepped a butterfly-looking leaf, Amidst further crunchy, colorful tree debris, While scuffling new …

Kim Dollar and Michelle Wallace

Michelle Wallace Inspiration piece More Than My Parts By Kim Dollar Response I’ve been bitten and I’ve been slapped Held more children than fit in my lap Had my belly round and …

Jewel Beth Davis and Theresa Kulstad

What the flak am I doing on this Lude-forsaken planet?

Douglas Pugh and Janet Yandik

Janet Yandik Inspiration piece Painted lady By Douglas Pugh Response you are the quiet one hanging in the background at summers party sipping and dipping where nectars melt hides best no raucous trills like karaoke jays, no …

Jayme Cawthern
and Amanda Miska

Jayme Cawthern, Untitled-oil pastel, graphite & gouache on bristol Response Piece Blasphemy by Amanda Miska Inspiration Piece If we are created in God’s image, does that make God a masochist? Because …

Amanda Whitener and Donna Gagnon

Amanda Whitener Girl with Birds Inspiration piece An Examination of Amanda Whitener’s “Girl with Birds” in Words by Donna Gagnon Response Examination #1 The sky was full of crows. Normally, my mother could …

Amanda Miska and Jayme Cawthern

Jayme Cawthern, untitled Inspiration Piece The Bibliophile Files by Amanda Miska Response A conversation from the floor of a living room that looks more like a small library, every wall …

Myfanwy Fox and Kapulco

Twiggy Moon by Kapulco inspiration piece The Moon’s Names by Myfanwy Fox response The moon has many guises – silver, harvest, man-in-the, full, new – and as many stories, folktales. There are no evil …

Alisa Bliss and Margaret Mair

A Beach Story Above, the inspiration piece by Margaret Mair. Following, the inspired response by Alisa Bliss: Castles in the Sand: Beach in Three Perspectives She comes to the …

Christina Brockett
and Maureen O’Donnell

Shades of Gray By Christina Brockett Response The Point By Maureen O’Donnell Inspiration Piece Thank god, it was finally raining. Mom’s mutter floated through the narrow channel between kitchen and the …

Christina Brockett
and Donna Kendall

Fractured Union By Christina Brockett Response Beneath the Ailing Cypress By Donna Kendall Inspiration Piece In the morning, before the shots rang out, Giordi Baldini told his wife, Chiara, that he …

Cheryl Leibovitz and
Indrina Kanth

Cheryl Leibovitz Blue Flowers Response Untitled By Indrina Kanth Inspiration piece Nia received the note in the mail. It was from her stepmother, and it was just that – a note …