Denise Patton, director of the Carbon County Museum, and Sophia Puccini, dancer, singer and fine poet, visited the WAC offices yesterday to talk about a new community project they had in mind, grants, and what's happening in Rawlins. Denise and Sophia want to bring a performance project to Rawlins that encompasses spontaneous performance with an element of improvisation. They had traveled to Italy and experienced this kind of free art expression on the streets and corners and in the restaurants of Florence. They also want to take the company of five to Italy to perform there. Denise, who is a poet/writer, has a M.A. in visual art and has also studied interior design with an emphasis on architectural design, and Sophia talked about the holistic health benefits of the arts, community capacity for projects and the importance of the younger generation being able to experience all aspects of art which then gives them a new kind of vision for a future where the arts are a part of everyday life.
Carbon County Museum is working on building a new home. The Museum is currently in an old church with inconsistent climate control even for the most basic museum standards. The current space is busting at the seams, and needs twice the space. The site of the new museum will be at Merrell Hill, which is adjacent to Interstate 80 and Highway 71. Views from Merrell Hill take in Rawlins Uplift, historic downtown Rawlins and the Snowy Range and the Red Desert, with the thought of capturing travelers' interest from the interstate. They are fundraising in and outside of the community. If you'd like to donate or read more about the museum, go to http://www.carboncountymuseum.org/.
Sophia carries her book with her, The Poet (2006, iUniverse) to sell. Between the covers are 88 love poems. Sophia seems to have traveled the world, or more appropriately, the world of lover-strangers and even those less familiar but better known, have been her tour. Either way, these poems are like reading a mysterious and haunting romance novel, layered with the egos and insecurities of those caught in love's frequencies. Look for Sophia's second collection of another 88 love poems coming out soon. Here's one that I liked:
The Shore
I carry you with me, out
the door, with my hairbrush
in my purse, walking along
the boardwalk with the coast
before me and the sea grass
and the wind and the sky
leaning into me like morning,
arms around my waist,
thick with Florida heat.
I walk with the bruise
beneath my lip while you sleep,
arms stretched above your head
like a sailor pulling ropes
of air and light with ease.
I make love to your face
tangled in my hair, crushed
into the surface of my skin
like salt: strong and exquisite.
So sad. So deep. So clean.
