Lisa Panepinto : part one

Lisa Panepinto is the author of where i come from the fish have souls (Spuyten Duyvil) and on this borrowed bike (Three Rooms Press). She lives near Bangor where she makes arts and crafts, gardens, and works as a freelancer.

What are you working on? 

I’m working on some odes to people who have been meaningful to me, like my adopted grandmothers, writer heroes, and celestial bodies. The sage Vasistha is said to reside among the seven stars of the Big Dipper, which reassures me. Most my poems start as journal entries: stories from life, poetic phrases I hear other’s say, ruminations on the state of the world. 

I’ve also been combining text with visual art using collage and paintings. Last week I took some words from my poem “living prayer” and painted them on tile along with some evergreens. Textile and sculpture artist Bonny Gorsuch referred me to the artwork of Corita Kent—and I admire how Corita uses calligraphy as art in a way I’d never seen before. She explores spirituality, literature, and issues of fighting for equality through combining text with images.