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Jackie Craven

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Category: Inspirations

Where do poems come from? Art? Nature? Dreams? Jackie Craven blogs about the inspirations for her poems.

In Which I Try to Leave My Husband

Jackie Inspirations
Woman and man reflected on a silver toaster. Painting by Louise Craven Hourrigan

…But Cannot Find the Words. This poem makes NO sense. Or, does it? Here’s how jabberwocky language turned into poetry.

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Old Woman with Goose, 30 x 24, Oil

Jackie Inspirations
Painting by Louise Craven Hourrigan of an old woman in a black hood holding an enormous goose

A goose struggles in the grip of a haggard old woman. Here’s how a terrifying painting grew into a poem.

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Maroger’s Magic

Jackie Inspirations
3 Monkeys on a roof watch a man in costume perform a ritual

Philosophical monkeys perch on a roof in this surrealistic scene. What are they trying to say?

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Flight

Jackie Inspirations
Abstract painting with orange, red, and black

As a child, I didn’t know what to make of my mother’s wild brush strokes. She didn’t title this painting, so the subject is a mystery.

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Venus and the Half-Shell

Jackie Inspirations
Two paintings of Venus with a half-shell, one by Botticelli and one by American painter Louise Craven Hourrigan

Two views of Venus, one from the Renaissance, and one from the 20th century. Both tell a story about manufactured beauty.

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Lobster for Lunch

Jackie Inspirations
Painting of tropical beach scene

Who are these people in the tropical scene, and why does the lobster have such enormous claws? Stories unfold from every detail…

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Perspective Dreaming

Jackie Inspirations
Painting of a ceramic woman and a landscape of distant fields

Stirring thoughts of past and future, destiny and regret, this satirical Renaissance scene inspired the poem, “Perspective Dreaming.”

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Waiting for 5:00

Jackie Inspirations
Surrealistic painting of a derelict street

This enormous canvas brims with sin. Even the balloons have naughty details.

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Still Life With Oranges

Jackie Inspirations
Painting of oranges in a desert landscape

In a dramatic desert landscape, navel oranges form a whimsical pyramid on an African birthing stool.

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Carnival

Jackie Inspirations
Carnival painting by Louise Craven Hourrigan

Dark yet bright, this carnival scene inspired nightmares and poetry.

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WHISH cover art © Sharon Craven Kinzer. Cover art for Secret Formulas, Cyborg Sister, and Our Lives Became Unmanageable © Lousie Craven Hourrigan. Website content © 2025 Jackie Craven. All rights reserved. Theme: Himalayas Pro by ThemeGrill. Powered by WordPress.