Poetic Justice and the Wild Woman.
Poetic Justice is a non-profit that offers restorative writing and creative arts programs to women who are incarcerated.
For their 2023 auction fundraiser, Poetic Justice asked volunteer artists to take poetry written by their incarcerated participants and create a piece of art inspired by their chosen poem. As a participating artist, I took inspiration from “Wild Flowers” by Katherine Duncan (below) and the book “Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estés to create my art piece.
From the moment I read Katherine’s poem, I felt like it had been written for me. I crafted “Wild Woman” from individual faux and dried flowers and mounted her like a taxidermy trophy.
Wild Flowers
The burden of a flower child.
The joy of being born wild.
The curse of being cut down when you have finally grown.
The sorrow of being taken far from home.
— Katherine Duncan (Incarcerated Poetic Justice Writing Class Participant)
Society may try to confine and define us, but our wild nature cannot be contained.
— Clarissa Pinkola Estés