After the Storm, 6 A.M. East 7th Street

DSC00680 Pale silver sky
reflects on black iron.
Fire escape raindrops
slowly illuminate
this visceral world.
Birds’ babble,
laughter
rises with mist
from the street below.
I smile and
close my eyes
in calm satisfaction.

I lie still
between soft, worn
cotton sheets,
above spring verdant trees,
mahogany branches,
as lemon glimmers
among
sapphire clouds.
I know the secret
of tiny mosaics
and that
magical
pink metal
laundry box
in the bathroom.
The fire escape ladder,
is my tree house
framed by wet-dark branches
and cobalt curtains.
The rain-bejeweled
fire escape
will take me
directly
to heaven.

City to City

DSC04589I tightly hug

my sons goodbye.

Leave them

to their young men’s lives.

Drive away

after skies decant a

thunderstorm,

then burst into

peach and pale azure.

Journey and travel

and ride

through ebony night,

singing loudly

to stay awake.

Park in dawn harbor,

crimson and tangerine

ripple on dark water.

Gentle breeze,

moon slice

punctuated with

a single star,

dark side of the moon

outlined against

indigo sky.

And wrapped

in my husband’s arms

I dream

a gentle scent

of

sweet

spring rain.

 

June 20, 2017

 

Scan 2018-8-20 08.18.02Rise from Baltimore’s land, swinging south, the harbor lies cushioned by skyscrapers. Fluffy clouds in pale azure sky turning gold and rose. The moon a companion, rising directly next to my window, nearly full, cold pale light. Sail across land, the necklace of the Bay Bridge below and then..we are floating over ocean…there is nothing below us but clouds that we might drift down and straight down into the depths of the sea, inhabited by stage monsters, florescent and spiky or amorphous with a myriad of tentacles and we will sink and because I am with the magical pale Vikings we will drown but live forever frozen on the sea’s rocky floor.

Old Photos

skies and roadways

red tractors and maple trees

my cat and my husband

sisters by the  train,

tree branches, cement bricks

fences, flowers,

and the sky

reaching across

roadway with a green exit sign.

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Upside down

The world is upside down

in my wine glass

reflected with clarity

but bowed by curve of glass

the curve of the world

the curve of the sea

the curve of your body

when you turn to

speak to me in the shower,

drops glancing off you

as I sketch the first

drawing of the day.

You are my constant

as I blow from

mood to mood,

my thoughts swinging too hard.

I can only admire

those who travel with easy comfort

in these streets turned upside down.

 

Community and Creative Process

DSC04095
I have lived in artistic communities since early adulthood. I love the energy, feel it even when I am alone in my room. There is affirmation of the value of creating within an art community. There is knowledge that process is important. The energy in a community where people participate in the creative process helps generate ideas, even as we disagree  about the relative value of specific pieces or particular forms of art.
Art for me has been a means of keeping an even keel in a crazy world.
Often when I create, whether a poem, a painting or a song, I don’t fully understand the symbols and juxtapositions of ideas until much later. Art is not a way to recreate reality, but distorts reality in order to fully portray it, like a curved glass will focus the sun’s rays on a single point, and result in a fire.

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photo of Baltimore rapper Wealth making a music video in Savage, Maryland.

 

To My Husband

I don’t really care

if you wash the dishes

in the dishwasher

even after

I’ve washed them and placed them

in the drying rack.

I don’t really care

that my desire to buy

large pots

and dirt

and throw seeds in them

to see what comes up

annoys you.

What is most important

is the knowing of each other.

The small things

are who we really are.

When I was sick and despairing,

you comforted me,

forced me to eat,

and stroked my hair.

When you come home to me,

I listen to your stories

your sorrows, worries,

triumphs and joys.

We still sleep

entwined,

my arms wrapped around

your strong back,

or your leg snuggled

between my thighs.

And thus we know each other

past the superficial conversations

of friends

and casual lovers.

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