I’m stopping by to update you on my series of poetry paintings. Here is the
finished piece inspired by Kevin Young’s “Ditty.” I really enjoyed making it –
especially exploring sort of the frantic image of magnolia leaves in the wind,
with the light against the dark.

I’m learning some things about myself through this project. One of them isn’t so
surprising, given my love of poetry and writing, but I really enjoy having
specific phrases to work from when I’m creating abstract paintings. I’m
thinking that sometime soon I’ll do another abstract series and pen my own
lines to work from.  

I’m also learning that there are some poems that I’m just too close to. I spent a
while trying to do a painting to accompany “this is just to say” by William
Carlos Williams and I finally just decided to stop. That poem is one of my very
favorites and I just can’t make anything that can capture the emotions that I
have for it. So for now I’m going to stay away from some of those and instead
use poems that are beautiful and exciting, but perhaps that I have less of a
history with. So, next up I’m going to embrace a beloved poet, but a poem
that’s newer to me. I’ll share previews on Facebook and Instagram as I go.
Enjoy!

Flying at
Night , by Ted Kooser

Above
us,  stars. Beneath us, constellations.  

Five billion
miles away, a galaxy dies

like a
snowflake falling on water. Below us, 

some farmer,
feeling the chill of that distant death,

snaps on his
yard light, drawing his sheds and barn 

back into the
little system of his car. 

All night, the
cities, like shimmering novas, 

tug with
bright streets at lonely lights like

his.

source -
poetry.org