corner view~winter

Winter

Ode to the days when the ground is bare
and brown
and covered with heaven's white.

The time is silent, still and long,
and darkness will come
before she can sing again.

Her lantern burns both day and night.
The hearth a dance of yellow and orange.
Outside her children run and play.
They do not fret for loss of light.
They do not mind the sleeping sun.
 
It is enough that their tiny hands
are warm inside the blue woolen mitts
that Grandma knit just last week.
It is enough that they can build a man of snow.
They are angels to her, like the ones they leave
on the meadow ground.

So rest your head, 
and restore your heart,
while the huddled beasts sleep
embraced in the night's sky.

Where, she pleads, is our light?
Remember and trust, its time will come.


- I wrote this today for a friend.  I haven't written a poem in a long time.  Thanks Gary, for the encouragement.

Welcome back everyone to corner view.  Happy 2011!  Next week's them is organic form and it comes from Nadine.   FYI organic form is an art term: organic form refers to three dimensional form that is irregular, using a combination of edges that are curved or angular, usually thought of as occurring in nature.  The opposite of geometric.  Think snow covered boulders to get you started...

corner view~evening

photo by my daughter, Sky

Happy week everyone!  Here are some of my favorite evening photos taken over the last year.  There are images of tropical evenings, mixed in with summertime after dinner strolls through Venice and Paris.  I generally do best shooting with natural light so evening for me and my camera means sunset, or right after.  For more perspectives on "evening" throughout the world go to the sidebar here at spain daily.

And, to celebrate winter, I will leave you with one of my all time favorite poems, which is about an evening jaunt...

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

beach reflections

title of Sky's newest CD

The tides are constantly changing.

Rippled blue, seafoam green, tufts of white meringue

come to meet us like an old friend

welcoming,

beckoning,

constant.

The sea never takes a day off from work.

And yet for many is the most peaceful place on earth.

We could learn something from this great

expansive,

vast,

galaxy.

autumn memory

it's fall

it's fall

it's beautiful fall

the trees are letting go

getting ready to sleep away

the long winter's nights

we play

we play

in the leaves we play

while there still is time

and the ground is soft

and not yet cold

we jump into the leaves that fell

a nest

a bed

for our dear head

we love the way

these leaves will fall

they'll dry

and crumple

get trampled

or blown

to make the earth

for new life to begin

in spring

news

In 2006 I had work published in a book written by 2 extraordinary women. Carol was a graduate school art therapy professor, who is a great artist, and Peggy was a colleague, a wonderful poet and poetry therapist that I worked with in my earlier days as an art therapist.  The book is a series of essays, poetry, and artwork by artist/poets.  It was quite an honor to be chosen.  Most of the people in the book were far more established professionals than I.  My contribution includes poems I wrote about Shawn as a baby and a colorful abstract painting that I did that I love.  Note: The painting was done after waking up one morning a few years ago and realizing I had let 10 years pass since I had done a painting!  To date it is one of my favorite paintings.  Below is the Amazon link:

Portrait of the Artist as Poet by Carol Thayer Cox & Peggy Osna Heller (Paperback - Feb 1, 2006)