In my opinion there are two kinds of art. The first is the kind of art you hang on the wall to maybe add some color to a room and then never really think about again. The second is the kind of art which forces you to contemplate it, to stare at it for hours, drawn like a moth to a flame, and in the end, to walk away, pondering what you just saw, talking about it with your friends, deeply affected.

I traveled to Telluride, Colorado for the first time earlier this month for the town’s annual film festival. I journeyed there looking for inspiration, and my expectations were high. I was counting on cinematic artistry and natural wonder to come barreling toward me the moment my feet hit the dirt. I packed pads, pens, camera, digital video recorder- all in hopes of capturing something tangible- something that might ignite my own creative fire. Lucky for me, I found more than one something.

by Carolyn Blais

One year ago I climbed into the passenger’s seat of my sister’s Honda CR-V that was jammed packed with everything we could possibly fit into Space Bags. After squeaking out a goodbye to my parents through the chokes and gurgles of a too obvious cry, my sister pulled the car out of the driveway. I put down my shades in hopes of stopping more tears from welling up and spilling over, looked for a short time in to the rear view mirror, and then cranked up the radio

When a girl is born,
layers of her soul are stripped off
and sent into the atmosphere.

The lady-shaped shadows
flutter out into tailors’ workshops
and textile factories, into

closets and shops
where garments dangle, bodiless
skins. Like dress patterns,

the cross-sections of soul
crinkle as they meet fabric, pressing
themselves into being.

There comes a time
in a girl’s life when a gown is needed.
She will be married,

or will attend a grand
dance or party. There is only one dress
for her, and it waits

for her to select it, to
occupy its fabric as muscles stretch flesh.
If she chooses the right

dress, that one dress
lined with her soul, she will know it
by her anatomy’s instant

and perfect alignment.
She will know that she has been formed
in order to fill it out