*
A state you must dare not enter
with hopes of staying,
quicksand in the marshes, and all
the roads leading to a castle
that doesn't exist.
But there it is, as promised,
with its perfect bridge above
the crocodiles,
and its doors forever open.
Stephen Dunn
*
This week's editor on the Tuesday Poem hub is Michelle Elvy with lost and found on the b train in winter by Walter Bjorkman - writer, photographer, book & web designer and editor from Brooklyn, NY - living now in the Adirondack foothills.
Please click on the quill.
* details from various paintings in progress - Oil on Paper | CB
Claire, your new paintings are brilliantly colored. Oh, how I love them. xo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melissa - a more vivid palette seems to have entered the room! I welcome it. Much love xo
DeleteYour paintings in progress are stunning, the colors carry me to another dimension. xo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marylinn - so much of every creative process seems to be paradoxical, doesn't it? Being transported/standing still! 'Tis happy-making for me to hear you and Melissa respond so enthusiastically to these new images. Something that was not there before seems to be wanting to make an appearance! I turn up and watch with interest! o
DeleteOh how I love this. I live by this motto -- as many of us do, I'm sure -- that happiness is a fleeting state, but even when it's gone, it's there, just over the bridge, or around the corner, or in the air... I love that happiness is not something we can own, or control, or manage. We just have to let it be and take hold when it is within reach. I'm not sure it's something I think of as 'promised' as this poem suggests -- but it's there, in a state of perpetual motion and flow. Thank you for this today, Claire!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said, Michelle! I agree - we have just to let happiness be. I wonder if the words 'anticipated' AND 'unanticipated' might be alternatives for 'promised'? Either way, it's there; noticed often by its affect. When we recognise - or are impacted by it - it shakes and loosens our sometimes-rusty cogs to great benefit! xo
DeleteLove the poem, nice work on the paintings...looking for crocodiles...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alicia - and for coming by.
DeleteFeet on the bridge, eyes on the look-out for crocodiles!
Love the bridge above the crocodiles
ReplyDeleteI think that's my favourite line, Keith! Thanks for coming by.
DeleteDelicate, yet deep, both paintings and poem.
ReplyDelete