Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Alternatives



We have freedom -
alternatives
to how we live now -

for other ways
of being

Crocheting or
collecting eggs
from your back
yard flock isn't
enough to take back
territory

What must
go missing
to keep elegance
from vanishing?










Maureen's earlier post about writer Ursula K. Le Guin read like a plea. Mathew E. May wrote In Pursuit of Elegance - elegance is defined by what is missing.


Defy Gravity How?

December's end
segueing into January
makes me feel like
a mariner marooned
in a drained
bathtub where my
flesh
fat
bones
blood
muscles
hair
nails
skin
sinew
brains
and organs
rest heavy on
cold porcelain
blanching the pink
right out of me.

Friday, December 26, 2014

New Christmas Music 2014

Blood Oranges In The Snow by Over the Rhine. Buy it. Listen to it. Smile. Cry. Feel the warmth. Be refreshed. Get a lift. Shiver. Shake it off. Breathe. Let It Fall and The Very First Snowfall. No words…but we are heading to find snow at the end of January. Until then, I'm breathing…

If you're reading this. Feel like the beloved. You are. Blessings upon this new year.


Have you been trying too hard
Have you been holding too tight 
Have you been worrying too much lately 
All night 
Whatever we've lost 
I think we're gonna let it go 
Let it fall 
Like snow 

'Cause rain and leaves 
And snow and tears and stars 
And that's not all my friend 
They all fall with confidence and grace 
So let it fall, let it fall 

Have you been carin' too much 
How this one ends 
Y'know it's not the kind of fight 
That you lose or win 
When you're down so low 
You feel the imprint of the ground 
On skin 
Look around breathe in 

'Cause rain and leaves 
And snow and tears and stars 
And that's not all my friend 
They all fall with confidence and grace 
So let it fall, let it fall 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Coloring for Grown Ups - Therapy




Grown ups color
with sophisticated mediums
costing more than
a jumbo box of crayons

Familiar sparks of metallic
enchantment still occur
when tip points make contact
with ephemeral
paper bliss






Johanna Basford's Secret Garden Coloring book for grown ups. Free therapy to cure anything. Splurge on good quality colored pencils or markers. Or better yet, Sakura gel pens. The metallics are magical. 




Buhl Idaho Metal Sculpture Artist-Scot Horton




The man's hands tell 
a story forged hot from
 fired steel yielding to
rhythmic hammer returns
ringing and bouncing
off a hundred year old 
five hundred pound
 anvil from Leeds

The man's hands tell 
a story gouged bloody
and calloused from 
pounding steel flat
cutting and curling its
 tapered ends resisting
 his iron will 
and vision working 
backward from seeing
it entire and whole
  without blueprints
or worded plans 

The man's hands tell 
a story about bringing
his grandmother's double 
drainboard porcelain sink home
to embellish an outdoor kitchen 
where tables heavy
with flavors grace gatherings 
 of laughter and love
ending with communion
around dishrags 
and suds and towels
buffing the day's end 
to a sacred shine 

The man's hands tell 
a story about making a 
rack to hold crusted hamón -
a fifteen pound shank- cured
 for a year in salt - the Basque
 equivalent of Italian prosciutto -
a gift from a friend more 
treasured than gold 
holding state regally
 on the kitchen counter 
sliced thin for holiday 
celebrations lasting long 
from Thanksgiving 
till after Christmas

The man's hands tell 
a story about reproducing
a Basque sheepherder's wagon - 
every working part buttery 
smooth functioning
with minimal fuss -
a home compacted
bright with colors 
luring overnighters
to sleep under stars 

The man's hands tell 
a story about an old copper 
distiller brought from 
the Motherland and an apple
press made for cider harvest
and a BBQ barrel grill
embossed with homage
to homes with heart

The man's hands tell 
a story about making a 
pizza oven made ornate
with hinges and slides and legs - 
and doors weighted to swing open 
and shut without effort 

The man's hands tell 
a story about beloved
 sons and grandchildren -
 legacy furniture
 heritage knives
 twisted rockers 
and eagle sculptures 
silhouetting canyon sunsets
inside open gates where a cougar
keeps watch and antlers lift praise
detailed against the sky




This man gave me a generous afternoon. Rarely does one have the opportunity to see art made for art's sake, as a way of life. I think the Star Breather is pleased with a man using his hands - surrounding the ones he loves with the work of his hands. 

Below are more pictures of his work and the textures he surrounds himself with. Patina matters. I was taken with the details that probably would be overlooked or camouflaged - details he couldn't leave out.   It made for whimsical surprises. My eyes felt like they had been to a banquet and been utterly satiated and delighted with beauty.