The Drape

Mystic lines and shapes
Glorious shades of Earth and Sky
Share Thy gleaming truth

Teaching

I received a card on Friday with this:

You laugh, you cry, and you work harder than you ever thought you could. Some days you’re trying to change the world and some days you’re just trying to make it through the day. Your wallet is empty, your heart is full, and your mind packed with memories of kids who changed your life. Just another day in the classroom. ~ Anonymous

Here’s another:

Glimpse of Life

I think of you
as I lie down tonight,
wond’rin if we’re looking
at the same sky.
My friends, they’re mute
they dance in cheer
looking down
with smiles
as if to reassure.

Their glitters,
they sparkle in my bed
filling up empty spaces,
as though embellishments
the lover of Art uses
to brighten up the day.
Oh, how I wish they could speak
or even gesture,
they would lead me to you.

This pillow is all I have tonight.
It’s plain, it’s dull,
it’s faceless.
Might I start painting
pictures of you in my mind?
I wonder how you look,
or sound like.
Your eyes —
Are they blue
or grey,
or green…?
I wonder how it feels like
in your embrace.

This night shall pass —
Will I ever get to see you?
Will this heart’s longing
ever be quenched?
These eyes, tired of looking,
will they finally get to rest?

I would trade this life,
if only to see you.
One glimpse is all I need.
Knowing you
would be heaven,
but a glimpse
is life enough.

© 2014 The Mockingbird in Me

Words and Pictures

I am small poem
on a page with room
for another

Share with me
this white field,
wide as an acre
of snow, clear
but for these tiny
markings like the
steps of birds.
Come. Now.

This is the trough
of the wave, the seconds
after lightning,
thin slice of silence
as music ends,
the freeze
before melting.
Lie down beside me.
Make angels.
Make devils.
Make who you are.

I got this exquisite poem from the film, Words and Pictures, directed by Fred Schepisi. It’s interesting how this film elaborates on how rich, complex, and Brobdingnagian art is. There is variety in its unity. It’s as though the grand-master of creation appears to us in many faces. Each of His form is perfect and unique. There is contrast yet complementary.

In response to the film, I would like to share some of my students’ artworks. This gallery is their interpretation of the memoir, Angela’s Ashes. These static images reveal ideas of poverty, hardship, and this desire in us to have better life.