mark making with raku

9 days -- change in a tree, a view, a color............ . .

november 5. 2014

november 14, 2014

AN HOUR WITHOUT COLOR

An hour without color before snow

a tinge of brown in the oak leaf

a hint of green in the pine: "gray"

is too much to say of what's left

the sea dissolved into white sky

the woods a matted mass webbed with shreds

of last week's faded storm: then

it is snowing, it is now, I see

 the particles making a grain across things

half visible half not, sifting

the light from the scene like a thief

who steals what we slowly realize

we can do without, are better off without:

the colors of things afflicting our eyes

CHAMBERED NAUTILUS

How many rooms one occupies to lead

a life!—the child's small cell, within earshot

of his parents' smothered moans; the college room

assigned by number, a poster-clad outpost

of freedom; the married man's bedchamber,

cramped scene of glad possession and sneaking sorrow;

the holiday rental, redolent of salt

and sun and other people's cast-off dakys'

the capstone mansion with its curtained pomp;

the businessman's hotel, a one-night stand

whose trim twin beds and TV sketch a dream

of habitation soon forgot; the chill

guest room; the pricey white hospital space,

where now the moaning has become one's own.

2 of 13 poems from

NOT CANCELLED YET

by JOHN UPDIKE

2003

a limited edition of letterpress

Limberlost Press 2003

—found in the free section of mesa public library, los alamos, nm

11.14.2014

recent RAKU STONEWARE suggesting play

BLUE DR i F T / STILL LIFE with PAPER STONE BLUE