Poetry Connection: Connecting with Paintings by Patricia Chidlaw

When David Starkey asked if I would contribute a poem to an anthology celebrating the work of Patricia Chidlaw, I immediately said yes, but choosing which painting to write about was hard. In fact, I misread his email and chose three of her paintings. It was easy to get carried away. I wrote three ekphrastic poems for the project. On closer look, and after realizing the original request said each poet could choose no more than three poems, my two poems in the anthology are after Chidlaw’s Red Shoes and Bird of Paradise.

I had a difficult time deciding because her paintings are so haunting. I couldn’t resist the painting titled Red Shoes, of a Flamenco dancer. I showed my poem to my dance teacher, and she at first thought the painting was a photograph. She asked who the woman was and if the poem was about someone I knew. This is the power of ekphrastic poetry.

Chidlaw comes from a military family and has lived all over the world. After attending UCSB in 1969, she decided to stay in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara became her first serious subject. David Starkey says Chidlaw’s paintings evoke a noirish version of Southern California — one of loneliness, faded glamour, and mystery. “Blue Room,” the book’s title, comes from one of Chidlaw’s paintings and suggests not only her preferred palettes but also the prevailing mood of the paintings and poems.

A sampling of the Blue Room paintings opened to a packed audience at Sullivan Goss for First Thursday in September. The Blue Room anthology represents a second volume of poems inspired by Chidlaw. Poet Laureate Emerita Enid Osborn worked on a similar anthology, published by Sullivan Goss, titled Elsewhere, Paradise, when she was poet laureate six years ago.

On Wednesday, September 23, at 7 p.m., Sullivan Goss will host a reading of the Blue Room poets. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished copy of the anthology, Blue Room: Poetry by Santa Barbara Poets Inspired by Patricia Chidlaw’s Paintings, Gunpowder Press 2026.

Gunpowder Press also has a special event at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, featuring two Gunpowder Press poets, Crystal AC Salas and Catherine Abbey Hodges, accompanied by Rob Hodges on cello, on Saturday, September 12, from 3:30–4:30 p.m.

This week’s poem comes from Blue Room editor, contributor, and Poet Laureate Emeritus David Starkey.

Galaxie, Hollywood | David Starkey

Beneath a cloudless Southern California sky,
parked outside an adobe bungalow
framed by ceanothus and bougainvillea,
this ’63 Galaxie is a galaxy of its own,

but it’s a relic, a nonfunctioning system.
The bucket seats are torn, the tailight’s
cracked, the suspension’s shot, the tires
bald, the headliner inside the hard top’s

ripped. Above all, the battery is dead.
Someday soon, some hot rod-obsessed
oldster will make an irresistible offer,
or, following numerous neighborhood

complaints, the city will haul it off.
Most likely, though, the handbrake
will simply give way, and if it’s garbage day
the Galaxie will go rumbling down

North Vista Street, ploughing into recycle bins,
spewing trash along its path—one final
supernova before it disappears forever
into the black hole of Franklin Avenue.

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Upcoming Poetry Events:

Wednesday, September 9

Blue Whale Reading Series, featuring poets Stephanie Barbé Hammer and Poet Laureate Emerita Perie Longo, 5:30 p.m., Unity of S.B. Chapel (227 E. Arrellaga St., Santa Barbara).

Thursday, September 10

The Poetry Zone. The Poetry Zone returns from its August hiatus, 401 State Street, 4 p.m. 

Saturday, September 12

Poetry in the Bowl: Crystal AC Salas and Catherine Abbey Hodges. Gunpowder Press Poets read outdoors at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History; Rob Hodges accompanies on cello, 3:30-4:30 p.m. 

Sunday, September 20

The Poetry Club, Goleta Valley Library. Read a favorite poem or one of your own. 2-3 p.m.

Sunday, September 20

Let’s Chat About Poetry with Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Join local poetry professor and poet laureate emerita, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, for a reading of favorite poems. 4- 5 p.m. at the Domecil.