“The Complicated Thing”

Posted on May 1, 2020 • Words by Brian Clifton • Art by Janice Redman

Collaborators’ Q&A: Poet Brian Clifton: We’re all a little complicated. Maybe remembering that whenever we try to help someone heal (physically or otherwise) is a good thing. Artist Janice Redman: I feel like so much of our emotional worlds exist under the surface. Sometimes close to the surface, sometimes deeper, entrenched, not sure if they will reach the light, not sure what shape or form they take, not knowing if they are safe to explore.

Poet Brian Clifton is the author of the chapbooks MOT and Agape (from Osmanthus Press). They have work in: Pleiades, Guernica, Beloit Poetry Journal, and other magazines. Artist Janice Redman is a sculptor and mother who lives in Truro. Her work is in the permanent collections of The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.

Tagged: Animals, Apocalypse, Black & White, Cities, Ekphrastic Poetry, Sculpture, Switcheroo

“Nightride”

Posted on December 1, 2015 • Words by Brian Clifton • Art by David Bernardy

Collaborators’ Q&A: Poet Brian Clifton: The figure looks, to me at least, a little Shakespearean… the artwork made me think more about the history of the form I was using and how far back it goes into Western poetics. Artist David Bernardy: I imagine these pieces lit the way night-festivals used to be—torches, and barrels of flame, small pools of flickering light.

Artist David Bernardy is an artist, a writer and a dad. He likes lost things, old things, and dogs. Poet Brian Clifton lived in Kansas City Missouri. His work can be found in Whiskey Island, Juked, CutBank, and other such magazines.

Tagged: Cities, Digital Art, Drawing, Escape