Green & Parks – August 2013

Christine Green and Lynne Parks traded art and words. Lynne shared this photograph with Christine:

In response, Christine wrote this poem:

Initiation

Cueva de las Manos
Painted prayers were offered in ochre and charcoal and krylon.
This was dark work obscured by rock walls.
Priests performed this shadowy ritual without benefit of even the moon or stars;
Dim fires and luminous eyes were the only light used to guide the spray pipe in the blue-black of the cave.
Ancient hands pressed into stone, an appeal: “Remember us.”
Permanent supplication to the gods below the dirt.

Metro de las Manos
Painted prayers are illustrated in Kyrlon Firelane Red, Ultra-flat Black, and Modern White.
This is dark work hidden by concrete walls.
City-tough teens perform this covert ritual without benefit of street lamp or neon sign;
Flashlight beams and cell phone screens are the only light needed to guide the spray paint can in the blue-black of the tunnel.
Youthful hands reach into the bowels of the subway, a command: “Remember us.”
Permanent supplication to the gods below the streets.

* * * * *

Christine shared this pantoum with Lynne:

Full Moon in Libra

I race to plant the dark flower,
So I spread my mud-caked hands wide.
While her light shines on the shadowed bower
She yanks and tugs on the tide.

Desperately I spread my mud-caked hands wide,
Pleading with her to be as kind as she is bright.
She pulls and tugs on the tide,
And I fall to my knees ignored, alone in the night.

Pleading with her to be as gentle as she is bright;
I beg as her silver-blue rays refract in the mist.
As I fall to my knees aching in the night,
I fancy a touch, a sigh, and I cannot resist.

Succumbing to that tender push I dig deep,
While her light shines on the shadowed bower.
Soft earth crumbles as I place the seed and weep.
I race to plant the dark flower.

In response, Lynne created this untitled photograph: