The Commons
What we can and can’t see
Depends too often on what we can
And can’t afford
Which brings in the poor imagination
To carry much of the load
Far too much of that load
Says that central organ
Of our nature
Its definition
Perhaps
The primordial green and yellow valley
Over there with its endless
Flowered meadows
And spritely creatures
We imagine are there
Waiting to dance with us
Sing with us
Show us their tiny multiverse
Is not ours to see
So we can’t
Outside the mind’s sixth sense
And that my friends is not true life
Nor is it true life when a wild run
Down to the sunny shore
An openly free and thunderous run
Down to a pristine beach
Without umpteen hideous glassed in
Towers blocking horizons over the sea
Blocking our unabashed joy in the run
Through the dunes to that sea
Our first home is impossible!
Imagination without echoes in the world
In the real world of flesh and blood
Valleys and strands mountains and forests
Is like singing a song without notes
Without words
Without hope
The poem above struck me out of the blue. Well, mostly cuz I just listened to “Signs,” by
The Five Man Electrical Band (1971), and thought about our all too common lack of common access to Nature. I think some of that bled into these recent paintings as well, seen above and below:
As always, if the mood strikes you, please drop us a line, make a comment, suggestion, or send in your own work. Happy Trails!