Pressman & Carley – May 2021

Jacalyn Carley and Stephanie Pressman traded art and words. Jacalyn shared this piece, titled “thought caught” with Stephanie:

In response, Stephanie wrote this poem:

After learning an artist friend had a stroke

                  the heart’s blood blocked
from the brain       

                        that genius 

                 a dust mote in angled
light

          the world blurred

                     everything now nothing
the palette laid out as usual
                                             but
ultramarine    cobalt   cerulean  
            cadmiums   umbers
                                            alizarin
                                                         hang
in limbo with love
                                bread
slippers
               balance
                              what you went
into the other room
                                 to get

* * * * *

Stephanie shared this poem with Jacalyn:

Portrait of Jill

He longs to fetch water for her
to tumble with her
down the grassy hill
between their childhood homes. 

Visits when they crept downstairs
in nightshirts whispering lines
from the play. Their giggles chased away
goblins crouching in the shadows.

They staged the fall of Pompei
with walls and ceilings of terra cotta
bricks mocked up to crumble
at the least shaking.

They sacked Rome
with broom handles and cudgels,
broke into treasuries,
wrapped jewels in drapery
to carry away on their backs.

They knit skeins of thick yarn
with fat needles on a balcony
facing the guillotine, waiting
for the queen to bring them brioche.
He remembers all this as he blends
pigment into oil on his palette,
strokes the amber blush to her throat,
tidies the curl on her nape,
lets his brush linger on the pure
paleness of her shoulder.

In response, Jacalyn made this image, titled “Portrait of Jill Tumbling”: