I love having a poetic adrenaline rush. My belief that poetry publication is always a slow and quiet process was recently replaced with speed and sound, thanks to the Words of Art performance. The event is part of the Stories on Stage series of the Denver Center for Performing Arts, Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m. at the Cleo Parker Robinson Theater, 119 Park Ave. West, Denver, CO.

I feel honored to be one of 14 writers selected for the event. Each writer has a story based on a work of art currently on exhibit at the Arts Students League of Denver.

For several years, I've written poetry about other works of art - dance, film, music, and visual arts. Poets call this form of poetry ekphrastic from the Greek ekphrazein to recount, describe, point out.

First, I fall in love with the work of art, whatever its expression, and spend hours looking, watching, or listening to it. My body gradually gets a physical sensation that the art is washing through me. Then, I'm ready to start writing. This process usually takes time. True this time also. I finished writing "Nails and Needles" on January 14th and received the acceptance a few days later. Instead of waiting several months for publication in a magazine, the performance is days away. In poets' time, that's lightning speed.

Many of my ekphrastic poems have been published, but none with the adrenaline rush I received with this competition. Never before have I had a poem read by a professional actor with the visual image projected before an audience of story and art lovers. With my toes simultaneously in poetry, art, and theater, my feet are leaping over old beliefs to the live performance.

For tickets and information: 303-494-0523 or www.storiesonstage.org. Tickets: $12 general/$8 students and Stories on Stage subscribers.