Lillian here, happy to be back from my global travels and hosting today’s Poetics!

I’m always on the lookout for unique cards for birthdays, anniversaries, and note cards that are blank inside. I keep a stash in my desk and use them as the occasions warrant. Some months ago while digging through my box of cards I came across one with a surreal image on the front. It gave me pause and made my imagination wander. I turned the card over and found the artist’s name: Catrin Welz-Stein. I found her website, blog, images etc. and contacted her, telling her about dVerse. I explained how writers from across the globe use our prompts to write and share poetry. I requested permission to use four of her images for a Tuesday Poetics prompt, telling her of course, that she will be given credit for the images with her website published, in not only my prompt, but everyone’s poetic response to the prompt. I was thrilled to receive her permission!

LET ME ACQUAINT YOU WITH CATRIN WELZ-STEIN! She is a graphic designer, lives in Seoul, South Korea, and is the mom of two children. She’s loved to draw and create from an early age. Catrin graduated from Graphic Design in Darmstadt, Germany, and worked for various advertising agencies in Germany, the USA, and Switzerland. She quit working for agencies after having children and became self-employed. Catrin experiments with mixed media, collages, paintings on canvas, and has a passion and love for surrealism. She searches for license-free images, illustrations or photos for which copyright has long expired. She breaks the images into pieces, weaves them back together, mixing them with other images; transforms and retouches the pieces until the original image is no longer recognizable and an entirely new image is created. Surrealism, fairy tales, folklore, medieval times and Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) are her inspirations.

The prompt for today is to write a poem, any form and any length, using one of the four images from Catrin Welz-Stein that I’ve included below. Please use only one of these four images rather than choosing another you might find on her site — she has many many amazing images! These are the only four I’ve asked for and been given permission to use. You MUST give credit to her somewhere in your post as follows:

Image by artist Catrin Welz-Stein, featured at https://www.redbubble.com/de/people/catrinarno?ref=account-nav-dropdown&asc=

OR you can hyperlink to her name to the link above, in this fashion:
Image by artist Catrin Welz-Stein

THANK YOU Catrin Welz-Stein for allowing us to create poetry from your marvelous images!

Thought you might also enjoy a short video of Catrin Welz-Stein which features more of her art, as seen on YouTube:   https://youtu.be/eOVIDTTpau8

New to dVerse?
Here’s how to join us! 

• Write a poem as the prompt suggests, and post it to your blog.
• Click on Mr. Linky below to add your name and enter the direct URL to your poem
• On your blog, please provide a link back to dVerse. This enables others to enjoy our prompts, multiples our readers and thus the responses to everyone’s poem, including yours.
• If you promote your poem on social media, please use the tag #dverse poets
• And most importantly, please do read some of the other responses to the prompt and add a short comment or reaction. Everyone likes to be appreciated! The prompt is “live” for several days – as you’ll notice by the comments you’ll receive – so do stop by another day and read a few of the latecomers too!