Journal: The Princess and the Monarch; Ponder 2024
This article will be featured in Ponder 2024 as a special piece, positioned prominently after the acknowledgments. Ponder 2024 is dedicated to Chloe Douglas and her beloved husband, Brian, who inspired a deep connection with my heart that I can never fully reciprocate. Therefore, I humbly dedicate Ponder 2024 to them.
First, the story. I am no artist, so I sometimes use AI websites to generate images. For Ponder 2023, I had written about the ‘Pondering Woman and the Butterfly’ as one of my digital cover art.
Here is the sample I created.
I eventually settled on another cover with a girl sitting near a brook and reading a book, which we assume is Ponder 2023.
Ponder 2023 builds upon the foundations laid by the previous editions from 2020, 2021, and 2022. The hard work and dedication from those years are still evident today, but Ponder 2023 holds a special significance due to its emphasis on stories of the human experience. These narratives are crafted by individuals who are humans at heart but are known for their mastery of verses and rhymes. They come from diverse time zones and continents, bringing a rich variety of perspectives.
I consider my reviews as works of art, but subservient to the poet’s prowess — I am a student who learns from the master of the verses; I am the gardener who merely appreciates the Creator’s canvas of blooming words. That is when I can appreciate both the creator and the creation.
The Ponder Woman is the student and the gardener, the beautiful butterfly is the creation symbolizing the Creator’s mastery. I started with one, and today after Ponder 2023, I have the privilege of reviewing more than 100 poets, but more importantly, I have seen the connections made between these master creators happen. In a sense, it has become a mutual admiration club — all for good, of course — where a poem receives more attention and appreciation from fellow poets.
Contemporary poetry often struggles to be heard amidst the noise of social media content. Traditional artists risk being lost in the overwhelming flood of images, videos, and text that fills our feeds daily. When I chose Medium.com for my blog, I also selected LinkedIn as my platform for sharing my work as a poet, fiction author, and book and poetry reviewer. The artistic community on LinkedIn tends to be more supportive and focused on the art itself, unlike the clutter found on other social media platforms. Over the past four years, I've been validated in my decision to stick with LinkedIn. I've had no trouble discovering great poetry and wonderful poets. More importantly, LinkedIn has provided a way for me to build connections beyond just the poems I review. I've found friends, patrons, fellow poets, and, most importantly, kindhearted individuals.
One such artist in the ‘Ponder 2023’ Tribute Series is poet Chloe. Her Tribute is titled ‘Art with a Heart’. Now you can see the point I am trying to make.
When Chloe read my journal about the cover art, she reached out to me…
Chloe: Ashok would you like me to do the cover painting of the woman and the butterfly, I would do it digitally? So I would do an artwork on my ipad with my Procreate App then send it to you digitally.
Chloe’s cover art? For Ponder? I could not believe my eyes. She is a Master Artist (apart from her fine poetry). Do I deserve this? Does Ponder deserve this? It took a while for me to gather my marbles. Yes, it is true folks. Chloe Douglas is real. Her offer is true and real.
Me: hi Chloe, I will start writing the journal for Ponder 2024…Can I reach you then… say in about a month or so. I appreciate your offer. You are a wonderful artist and I would love to have the pondering woman and the butterfly.
It is October and the leaves are turning brown and gold, and time for our Tribute series. I haven’t even thought about the cover art for Ponder 2024. But, here I was — facing the imminent reality of my dream coming true. What I wished for in Ponder 2023, now was standing right in front of me.
Chloe: I wll do it for in a month’s time! I will enjoy it.
We went on to other topics, but the fact was that I did not realize that she would start on this until…
… yesterday, out of the blue, she sent a flurry of messages. Included in this are her processes for conception to canvas, as well as the cover art itself.
Chloe: Btw…I have now 3 versions…
1st one is ok and spontaneous, but just her chin is too big and she looks a bit glamorous
2nd one I worked too much on with different brushes.
3rd one I started only last night and it is more spontaneous so trying to finish this one…of course east Indian Butterfly to add…
See I meant it when I said I would work on it.
Yes Chloe, I never took your word for granted, but rather felt overwhelmed by your words, and then the action itself. It is my privilege to be in your thoughts, and more so, to be considered worthy of such a beautiful effort.
Spontaneous, big chin, glamorous… then too much with different brushes… and third, more spontaneous and ‘East Indian Butterfly’. The iterations and versions of your own volition, coming closer in thought and art between us. Somewhere, I became the subject myself, when you thought about the East Indian Butterfly. It is probably one of my best shots at immortality — to be part of the conception and the canvas.
As the brush met the canvas, the Master’s Mind shared the thought behind the work.
I woke up to these messages again.
Chloe: It was interesting to do this as a study. I used Princess Kate from her video with the butterfly. And then. Looked up women and butterflies from Chennai. So the woman is a cross between European and East Indian.
See how her mind works!
Pondering Girl:
The choice of Princess Kate as the subject is so resonating. After all, Chloe is from the United Kingdom, and Princess Kate is second-in-line, and I hear that she is recovering from her treatments. My best wishes to my fellow subject of Chloe’s art. I am fascinated by monarchy, and of course, the Royal Family itself. ( My present interest is in Chinese).
The idea of picking a princess as the model for The Pondering Woman is thoughtful, artistic, and the closest to what I might have thought of, but did not. This is special. I will tell you why.
The Pondering Girl ( or Woman) is about 20 years old. She is in an emancipated state, has financial comfort, and can enjoy poetry and nature. This is a privilege for many. A woman represents the bulwark of any society. If one can stop, stare, and savor poetry, it should be a young woman who has the time, mind, and aptitude to enjoy the fine things in life.
I recall what I wrote in Journal 2:
Between patriarchy and motherhood, juggling home and work, women have lost their space in their lives. If I were to envisage a young woman, who can create that space and time to read poetry, which is still eclectic because of personal choices, and then savor the way I do, slow teardowns and assembly and constructs of great poetry, chosen with care, then it is the ultimate representation of society and times that factor in such an evolution. For me, this is the best tribute to womanhood that I have come to know, dream of, and appreciate.
When I saw my wish turn into a visual, based on a real-life figure, I felt humbled.
The Chennai Butterfly:
The Chennai Butterfly, the one which hobbles from flower to flower, humbled by the still and swaying beauty of the blossoms, yet daring enough to suckle the pure and pristine nectar, the essence…sounds like me?
I thought so. So I am rehashing the answer I had given Anagha, another patron.
Why the Butterfly?
The butterfly represents the reader… the ultimate beneficiary of Ponder.
If you have read Part 1, and have read about the Ponder 2022 launch and its experiments, you would realize that Ponder has always been a discovery and experimenting platform. Now that I consider poems as flowers, and I am the gardener and the garland-maker, I expect the reader to be the butterfly that can still love the flowers in the garden and the garland. This makes logical sense that there are also varied tastes and combinations, hence a butterfly theme made sense.
Ah, the gardener becomes the butterfly. To consume the one, you fall in love with is a victory for the butterfly, unlike the moth which is consumed by the one you love.
Now, it requires a Pondering Woman to understand the Butterfly. Both are representatives of the top layer of their realms — human society and Nature. That is the privilege of being me — a huge privilege bestowed on me by the garden and the flowers — the poets and poems I have the honor to find on LinkedIn.
Chloe is not only about ‘Art with a Heart’. She is also about the ‘Art with the Smart’. Read her lines… unraveling me as the Butterfly. The thought behind the art is profound, like opening the petals of a flower to find the nectar-like how I review poems.
Her effort is not mere cover art folks — it is about showing her deep understanding of me. Can you relate to how I feel? Like the flower — proud, and understood.
Chloe: Finished the final version now!
I’m happiest with this one as final version.
Hope you like it.
This message was so exciting… and I waited. Then came another message that was the final icing on the cake.
It was not about the art itself, but the perspective about how it should look on the cover.
It was my husband Brian’s idea to have just her face on the front cover.
He really liked her close-up…without the butterfly, like she is looking at the butterfly but the viewer can’t see it…until they turn the book to the back cover… or maybe it’s inside for the introduction? I’ll send them again how it should be…
Let me explain this with the pieces of the perspective…( puzzle). This is October 2024, and there are four tribute pieces and two more Ponder pieces left to complete. I am unprepared for this pleasant surprise — like Christmas coming early in autumn.
Brian and Chloe have discussed how the cover art for Ponder 2024 will look. Now, Ponder 2024 belongs to them, and I am simply the humble recipient of their generous thoughts.
Front Cover:
He really liked her close-up…without the butterfly, like she is looking at the butterfly but the viewer can’t see it…until they turn the book to the back cover…
The princess’s eyes are filled with happiness, grace, and understanding, yet they also convey a sense of curiosity. Her smile is subtle and harmonizes perfectly with her eyes. Her skin showcases a blend of Indian and English tones, resembling a warm wheatish complexion, like a young autumn leaf. Her light pink lips, youthful yet mature and mellow, open like the blossoms of October Dianthus flowers. Her hair flows beautifully, resembling water, in a rich dark golden brown that reflects the fertile, clay earth. It suggests a blend of intelligence and imagination — qualities that an artist possesses — and embodies the nurturing spirit of both nature and womanhood.
I hope you can see the perspective overlay on the art. Thank you, Brian and Chloe.
Back Cover:
Chloe proposes a fuller picture for the back cover.
Inspired by the photograph, the subject — let’s call her Kate — holds her left hand with her right hand, interlocking her palms. A Monarch butterfly perches on her hands, its wings open as if it is enjoying the warmth of Kate’s palms and fingers, resembling blooming flowers. The tactile connection between Kate’s fingers and the butterfly’s legs creates a transcendent experience I feel when I read poems.
Again, the perspective overlay for the back cover.
The Butterfly unblurred:
It may seem coincidental, but I want to share something important that many of us, including myself, have overlooked — unless you’ve read my previous work. I wrote a story about the Menelaus Butterfly. While Menelaus is not a Monarch butterfly, Menelaus, the human, is indeed a monarch, and that serves as an interesting storyline.
Let’s revisit the Monarch butterfly. The close-up image shared by Chloe emphasizes its majestic qualities, showcasing the vibrant brown, amber, and gold tones of autumn. This butterfly is fearless and friendly towards humans, particularly in the way it resonates with emotions, as seen in its connection with Princess Kate. The zoomed-in photograph highlights this beautiful and genuine bond between the insect and the human.
Chloe texted me again.
Good morning Ashok.
It was such good fun researching the area of Chennai and I enjoyed the challenge of making a painting in digital art that would have the right feel for a front cover.
I didn’t want her looking glamourous, or like a doll or a caricature. It is quite hard to make up a face rather than use one photo of one real person.
That summed it up. She loved her work, enjoyed the research, and welcomed the challenge. The art captured the right feeling and perspective. This art was as human and as poetic as it could get. I have quoted her ad verbatim to share the true words from her heart and soul, and the way it wrapped Ponder 2024 — the book.
And her final words left me speechless —
Chloe: The reason I felt moved to just do it for you, was your post about only using poets on LinkedIn. I realised the opportunity you had given all of us of being promoted amongst your connections and through the ripple of connection, I thought it was such a lovely choice for you to have made.
The richness of poets, including yourself, that I have met in my connections is truly remarkable!
I have made poet friends for life!
Now, you will understand why it was a no-brainer for me to dedicate Ponder 2024 to her.
These were my words:
Ashok: Yes. That is true. I don’t work outside LinkedIn. I found such a profound network through just connections, that I can find good poetry — and we are meeting new poets in every Ponder Series. I had a view about only celebrating poetry and not poets, but a year before, it occurred to me that the person is the poem.
So, I repeat the first paragraph.
This article will be featured in Ponder 2024 as a special piece, positioned prominently after the acknowledgments. Ponder 2024 is dedicated to Chloe Douglas and her beloved husband, Brian, who inspired a deep connection with my heart that I can never fully reciprocate. Therefore, I humbly dedicate Ponder 2024 to them.
“I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
~Ashok Subramanian © 2024
Chennai, India
