"A year of wonder"
surprise
It's another day
And we are here to greet it
Promise of 365 more
But no guarantee
One at a time allotment
We can live this day
Or while it away
free choice no judgement
three passions
poetry, printmaking
protests: my lifelong passions
keep coming around
16x13" framed 22x18" unframed
FROM MS. LIBERTY SERIES
18x14" 13x16"
my first completed print project
4 x 6" Permission Slips
far from perfect, but fun
under the line it says 'fill in the blank'
Besides protesting in the streets against ICE and war and dictators
I have two new passions filling my life - revived passions actually:
I've joined a new artist printmaking studio in town, with a talented and active group of artists; also an online poetry group that I'm just getting to know but already inspired by. We set a challenge for ourselves this month to memorize a poem. This came out of a discussion of experiences that are going extinct (like cursive handwriting, memorizing poems used to be a common practice - I remember my grandfather would recite long poems). I chose Grace Paley's poem Responsibility from her collection titled Begin Again. It's just under 300 words, so not really long, but it has been a wonderful exercise in focusing. I realized I have never memorized one of my own poems, so that will be my next task. Her poem about responsibility did remind me of one I wrote six years ago that I will reprint for you here.
Poets Job Description
Paint an iridescent metaphor, build magic with words.
Articulate, tell us what you mean.
Enough of this ho-hum, maybe this, maybe that.
Put on the tragic mask and have us all in tears.
Can you enrage us, move us to mob action? Any action . . .
Don the comic mask and proclaim the absurdity of life. When else can you strut and storm if not now? The leaders lie and lie about lying. Make us laugh as if it doesn’t matter.
Hold up the mirror, force us to acknowledge the mask we wear. Reflect our truth, positive or not. Make it okay to go on living. Reclaiming our humanity.
Yours is an immense task, perhaps impossible.
The mask will help.
Summer 2020
ca 1980 - February 2026
backyard Cashew Tree
I miss it daily
it was a wonder and a delight
