Seeing Four Times
1-
Hopper boarding house:
lights on behind each
window, a story in every room.
2-
Hands framed like O’Keeffe’s
in black and white. Age spotted
and arthritic now. Two handled
coffee cup nearby, steaming.
3-
Burchfield snowscapes surreal
as sun behind snow burdened
trees. All the walls inside
papered with dreams.
4-
O’Keeffe’s night sky.
clouds over the desert.
Windows open to let
the stars in.
Seeing Five Times
1-
Loud noise startles-
crows rise from
Van Gogh’s fields.
2-
After the shipwreck-
Turner recreates
the storm.
3-
Light clarified-
Monet’s out of focus
flowers.
4-
Shadows brushed by light
at sunrise-new eyes
are needed.
5-
Inside the cathedral:
sunlight through stained
glass. Hopkins’ pied beauty.
Seeing Six Times
1-
Windblown sun against
window glass, a study
for a landscape.
2-
An arrangement of summer
squash on a picnic table
by size and height;
almost art.
3-
Rock formations where
mountains abruptly end.
Rising mist envelopes
lost climbers. Nowhere to go.
4-
Felled trees carved
Into animal heads.
A man with a chainsaw.
Making art.
5-
Dawn in the mountains.
Fog layers a lake.
Last night’s rain still
on trees.
6-
Landscape with sunset.
low slate gray clouds
underscored by dayglo
red on the hills, windows
reflect bits of color.
Seeing Seven Times
1-(Durant)
Last flourish of sun
over white mountains.
Shadows cloud still
water. Nothing moves.
Not even the light.
2-(Hokusai)
Snowcapped Mt. Fuji.
Red sun sinks.
The sea on fire.
3-(Cropsey)
Fading clouds last
reflective glow on still
water, sun tainted evening
mists drift towards shore.
4-(Hokusai)
Draws perfect circles,
one inside the other.
Then the Great Wave.
5-(Church)
Low ridge of black
clouds. The whiteness
of a snow peak. A full
moon rising.
6-(Hokusai)
Musing. Travelers hike
curving paths bearing
burdens on their backs,
where one trail ends,
another begins.
7-(Self-Portrait)
Deeply furrowed flesh.
Collapsing facial lines.
Tired eyes still laughing.
The White and the Blue and the Black Three Times
1-
The sky bleeds
where sun meets
the sea
The slow tide
of night that
follows after
2-
Lilacs in full bloom.
The white and the blue.
A purple Iris border;
Spring’s tone poem
3-
Before the storm:
dead calm of still
black night
The island drawing
lightning from the sky
Wind chimes sound
the alarm
Les Preludes: Ted and Sylvia, One Each
1-
Fluctuating sea breezes,
sky changing from
blue to gray to black;
hawk in the rain
2-
Dead fall amid winter
trees; matted grass where
the deer lie down