Walpurgis Eve - a poem by Laura Theis

We're just $1,500 away from the funding goal on the Worlds of Possibility Kickstarter, and to celebrate, here is a poem! "Walpurgis Eve" by Laura Theis is illustrated by Jessica P. Wick. To read the text of the poem and see the illustration, visit https://www.juliarios.com/walpurgis-eve-a-poem-by-laura-theis/

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the OMG Julia podcast,where we discuss creative lives and processes.
Today, we are at eighty twopercent of our funding goal for the World's
a Possibility Kickstarter. We have ahundred and seventy five backers and we've raised
over seven thousand dollars toward the initialfunding goal of eighty five hundred dollars.

(00:25):
We're so close, I'm super excited. Last time I talked to you,
I mentioned that we had a stretchgoal of stickers. That is definitely still
true. So if we can overfundby five hundred dollars to nine thousand,
we'll get those stickers, which isgreat. But this update, I'm not

(00:46):
going to be revealing more stretch goals. I'm going to wait a little while
on those. However, to celebratethis milestone, I am going to give
you a poem. I asked overon Twitter, Instagram, and mastadon about
which poem people would like to see. Whether they would like to see a

(01:06):
poem from a New Day by JeanGoulburn, or a poem from the February
issue, or the poem that goesalong with the Valpurgos art prints by Jessica
pe Wick. Now, Valpurgos isa holiday that is celebrated on the evening
of April thirtieth and the day ofMay first, and it's still celebrated today

(01:30):
in Nordic countries such as Sweden,Finland, and also Germany, where Laura
Tice the poet is from. Andtraditionally in Germany it was a holiday where,
like Halloween in the United States wasmaybe a hundred years ago, people
would go out young people and makemischief, like tipping over people's outhouses,

(01:53):
letting loose their cattle, throwing tomatoes, you know, the whole mischief making
sort of thing. And over thecourse of the twentieth century in the US
at least, we sort of hada big social push to make Halloween a
holiday quote for the children, therewas like a really big social push for

(02:15):
that about how you know, it'sa time when you should really be happy
with children, but not go outand make mischief. However, traditional law
in Germany said not only was ita time where kids would go out and
make mischief, but also it wasa time the night time when witches would

(02:37):
convene in the mountains. So thatis where the history is coming from,
and that is what the illustration showswhich is cavorting in the moonlight around a
bonfire, And today you can stillcelebrate it with a bonfire. On the
evening of April thirtieth, you mightfind witches. I haven't been myself,

(02:58):
so I haven't seen them, butthey could be there anyway. Here is
Valpurgis Eve by Lauratice. Each yearcome Valpurgis, father bolts the gates at
sunset, double locks the front door. He does this, he says,

(03:21):
to keep looters and pranksters away,hold mischief and revels at bay, shut
out the mutinous night. This yearValpurgis Eve came with a gale force.
But father, now used to dismissingeverything wild in the air or the eyes

(03:44):
of young girls, never bothered tohide the key to the cabinet under the
stairs where the maid keeps mop bucketand broom. And so I went with
my sister. I'm here with mysisters. I went with my sisters to

(04:06):
dance. That was Valpurgas Eve byLara Tice. And it's I just love
the sense of sly, mischief andexcitement and revelry that is all throughout the
voice of this narrator it's so great, and the poem's illustration is equally wonderful.

(04:31):
Jessica pe Wick is an artist fromWesterly, Rhode Island, and she
hand carved into a lino block theprint that became the illustration for this It's
printed in black ink on white paperand it shows several different images from the

(04:53):
poem. The images that you'll seeacross the top are of a bat and
and a branch of a tree withwind blowing, and a mountain landscape,
and then along the right hand sidethere's moon shining a full moon and a
moth flying in the starry night.And then at the bottom of the right

(05:16):
hand page there's a closeup on thatlocked cabinet door. And then along the
bottom of the page, underneath themain illustration is a picture of the stairs
and the cupboard underneath with its bucketand mop and broom inside, and the
door has been opened. And thenin the center, the biggest part of
the print shows a witch with abroomstick arriving to join several cavorting witches who

(05:46):
are just dancing with abandon around abonfire. And I just love it.
I feel like it captures the spiritof the poem as well. And I
love this sort of subversive fun thatwe get from this. So very excited
about both of these pieces. Let'stalk a little about the people who made

(06:08):
them. Writing in her second language, Lara Tice received distinction from Oxford University's
MST in Creative Writing. Her workappears in venues such as Asimov's Poetry,
Miss Lexia, Magma, Rattle,Jellyfish Review and Strange Horizons and anthologies by

(06:32):
Pan McMillan, Broken Sleep Books andAe Sci Fi, amongst many others.
Her debut How to Extricate Yourself,an Oxford Poetry Library Book of the Month,
won the Brian Dempsey Memorial Prize andwas nominated for the SPA Elgin Award.

(06:53):
She was the recipient of the Societyof Author's Arthur Wilton Award, the
am Heath Prize, EA l OxfordBrooks Poetry Prize, Mogford Prize, Hammond
House International Literary Award, and aForward Prize nomination. She was shortlisted for

(07:14):
the Women Poets Prize, Bridport Prize, Margaret Read Poetry Prize, Alpine Fellowship,
and a finalist for numerous other literaryawards, including the National Poetry Competition,
and the BBC Short Story Award.Her forthcoming book, A Spotter's Guide
for Invisible Things, has won thetwenty twenty two Live Cannon Collection Prize.

(07:43):
Wow, so many accomplishments, andI can understand why she's winning all these
poetry prizes because I just love hervoice. I love the rhythm of her
words and the way that she's ableto convey so much vibe into such a
little space. I'm very excited toread this poem. I'm delighted to have
it for Worlds of Possibility. JessicaPeewick, the artist who created the print

(08:09):
that goes along with this, isan artist as well as an author,
poet, reviewer, and freelance editor. She lives in Rhode Island in an
only occasionally spooky old house across froma Victorian strolling park. She's always loved
illustration and feels a particular draw towatercolor pennoning silhouettes, and has most recently

(08:35):
been playing around with Lino cut prints. You can read her writings at Jessica
Peewick dot com, or see whatprince she's offering for sale at Foamliar dot
Bigcartel dot com. Her Instagram isfoamliar. Her Twitter is Luna Liar.
Her love for the sea and Twilightis well documented, so I am just

(09:01):
delighted to have both of these.And as of the time of this recording
and writing of the post, thereis one Valpurgas art print left up for
grabs. The level that includes thatis one hundred and twenty five dollars.
You also get all the print booksand the other art rewards as well,
so you'll get the stickers and thepostcards, and that includes the stretch goal

(09:24):
stickers, assuming we make it tothat stretch goal, so you know,
sign up for it if you wantit. These prints, I should explain,
are actually nine by twelve, sothey're not small. You can actually
put them up on a wall andhave a really nice display. Next updates,
I'm going to actually be revealing onemore stretch goal, and I'll also

(09:48):
be including a poem by Gene Guelburnbecause the race between a poem by Gene
Gouelburn and a poem that went alongwith this illustration in the polls that I
posted was so tight that it wasalmost a tie, and I know you're
all really curious to see that.So the next post I'm going to include

(10:09):
a poem by Gene Goulborn, andI'm going to also include a little peek
inside a New Day, so youcan see a little bit of how that
book will look when you get it. Okay, please, if you're enjoying
this, if you're enjoying everything I'mdoing, if you think it sounds interesting,
go over and back the Kickstarter.There are levels that are as low

(10:33):
as seven dollars, which includes ANew Day and one issue of World's Possibility,
and the ability to add on thingslike stickers or postcards if you just
want the stickers, and then thereare also things like fifteen dollars where you'll
get the full ebook of the anthology, which is going to be the same
style as the print book, soyou're going to see all of the colorful

(10:54):
things that are going into that printbook that are not in the regular issues,
like the section breaks for Jennifer Hoodacts story, So if you want
to see those in ebook form,you can just do the fifteen dollars level.
If you want the stickers, youcan add those on. If you
want the postcards, you can addthose on. If you want the art
level that's thirty five dollars, whichincludes both the ebooks and also the stickers

(11:18):
and the postcards. After that itgets a little bit higher. The print
book is going to be the mostexpensive thing to print and ship, so
that is why the print book Bundleis sixty five dollars. Thank you for
listening. Thank you if you alreadyhave supported, please boost if you can,
and stay tuned for next time whenI'm going to give you more exciting

(11:39):
things. All right, catch younext time.