SONG OF THE HUMPBACK WHALE

SONG OF THE HUMPBACK WHALE

In the sea-pastured dreams
where the stars fell from grace,
they are destined to crawl from the sea floor 

at daybreak, searching for a way back home

to the night sky where a whale's eye 

roams the universe in search of self,
twittering and singing, squealing and sighing
in a raspberry-lipped sotto voice 

of diminishing dreams.
Leave the future behind, and then what?
The echo, in the depths, the melody, 

lost among the rocks and tidal surges.
The whale's heart is large enough to hold me—
Imagine that kind of love.
Imagine becoming the heart of the whale.

Who traverses dreams of the night 

with such ease that the countries of the universe 

will rise again like distant islands 

under the boat, joining words to song, 

and song to the mind of the universe?

Why can't I come back to land? asks the whale.
What sheep dreamed of entering the sea
in search of fodder, only to grow fins
leaving Jason's golden fleece behind 

on the opposite shore for mankind 

to find and plunder another kind of wealth 

on the beaches of California?
What of the lost migratory routes 

and the coming extinction
when you will not see again 

the eye of the whale rising like the moon 

in the pond of forgiveness?

1/28/1998 

10/15/2015

Fur Heart Valentine for Art form the Heart (art)

Watercolor and collage. I painted two images of hearts onto heavy morilla board then I sliced them into strips (one vertical, one horizontal) and then painstakingly wove them together. I did a series of woven paintings after a trip to Guatemala in the mid -1980s. Most are gone, sold to strangers at the annual Art form the Heart art auction fundraiser at Sonoma State University. I made a color xerox of this one. so, it's a collograph of a painted collage.

I lined the two woven heart pockets with rabbit fur. There are candy hearts and ribbons and and even a slender pencil. You never know what people will buy at the auction... One pieces that I submitted I thought no one would buy, there were fierce bidding wars on it. Other pieces that I thought would appeal, no one wanted. This little jezebel was left behind. I guess whimsical fur lined hearts didn't appeal.  January, 1998? or 1988?

Landscape with Salmon: pastel valentine (art) 1998

A pastel valentine to Neil, 1998