Stephen & Inman & Jordan – May.14

Clinton Inman, Carol Stephen, and Mia Jordan traded art and words. Clinton shared this painting, entitled “Crosstown,” with Carol:

In response, Carol wrote this poem:

Reflections in Shadow Light

Shadows lengthen in the alley crosstown
somewhere, skyscrapers threaten to fold in on him
the way his world is folding layer on layer
with each step she takes away from their life.

If he could, he would follow, reach for her arm,
merge his shadow with her own, make new promises,
ones the colour of truth and love, but each footstep
hammers into his heart like nails.

All he can do now is watch, surrounded by his
own silence, the right words lost to him
under the city’s clamour and glare. Only her perfume
floats back on strands of memory, only the echo of her farewell.

* * * * *

Carol shared this poem with Mia:

The Rocks We Moor Upon Have Shifted

A heap of broken images.
The sun.
The dead tree.

Among the stones— here, and
each place where
someone fell away from our lives

the rocks we moor upon
                        have shifted. We find our own way
                                    of being in the world.

The dead tree shed seeds on the wind
before dying. The sun
comes again at morning.

                       In the shift of rock, sand.
                                   On the wind, seeds.
                                              Feathers of birds.

In response, Mia made this painting, entitled “de-composition,” of paint, wood, and cherry blossoms: