“Stones” is based on an ink drawing created using the artist’s non-dominant hand during therapy. In art therapy, non-dominant hand artmaking has myriad uses. Although it is typically used to tap into less utilized parts of the brain, given Rose’s severe, treatment-resistant OCD that has not responded to traditional Exposure Response Prevention therapy, it is used to address excruciating perfectionism. Ironically, but not surprisingly, it has birthed another compulsion: for every image that she creates, she must now also write a poem.
Originally from rural southern Kentucky, Rose Menyon Heflin is a poet and artist living in Wisconsin who enjoys nature and travel. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies on four continents. Recent and forthcoming publications include 50 Haikus, Asahi Haikuist Network, Bramble, Deep South Magazine, DREICH, Eastern Structures, The Ekphrastic Review, Fireflies’ Light, The Light Ekphrastic, MacQueen’s Quinterly, The Minison Project, Please See Me, THE POET, Tangled Locks Journal’s MoonBites, and Visual Verse. Her poetry won a 2021 Merit Award from Arts for All Wisconsin.