2 poems by Karen George

Karen George created two poems from the works of Virginia Woolf: “Waking from a Dream” (click here to read) is a remix using Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927), and “When she caught another’s attention, her body” (click here to read) is an erasure from To the Lighthouse (1927).

About the poems and the process of composition, Karen George writes:

My erasure poem “When she caught another’s attention, her body” was created from page 24 of Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse. My cento poem “Waking from a Dream” was created from words and phrases found on three series of 12 pages (7-18 of Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse and 60-72 and 84-96 of Mrs. Dalloway). In the creation of both poems, I was drawn in by particular words or phrases of the source text which interested me in sound, image, or meaning—copying them to a separate page. Images connected and a narrative emerged. In the erasure poem, I tried to keep the selected words in the same positions as they appeared on the novel’s page. I chose a poem title which suggested, or led into, my poem’s narrative.

The role of 12 and 24 in the composition process reflects our invitation to poets to use 12 (on the occasion of our twelfth volume) in some way in their poems.

Also by Karen George at Heron Tree: Ars Poetica, Become Like the Sea, A Vessel, [The crow holy], Dear Mother, last night I dreamt, Eve Takes to the Air, In Sleep’s Cape, In the Well, Lip of the Well, [May the continent of night], The Wait, and [We are ragged].