This period marked a major turning point in my artistic career as I began to display my poetry in conjunction with my paintings. This process, is called “ekphrasis!” By definition “an ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.”
I had been writing poems throughout my adult life, but it was not until 2019 that I put one with one of my pieces. Then, in 2019, when asked to do a show based upon a poetic theme, I decided to make a poem for every piece I had in the show; twenty-one in all!
The images from the later part of 2019-2022 represent paintings that were a part of my show in February 2022 in Santa Fe. These pieces were all made especially for that show and are relatively large-at least 36” x 48” -and all in acrylic on canvas. Each piece is accompanied by a poem that I wrote specifically for that piece. I tried to provide a different look to these pieces, which made them much more interesting for me.
These pieces can be viewed within the Selective Works area of the site.
2019-Venezia De Note
sensuous dark canals adorn buildings
as red gold lavender clouds
reflect in mirror images that ripple and shimmer in
unstructured mystery brocaded from the seventh century
Doge royalty-dripping with the rains of time
as the sea slowly erases their history
and gondole slide gracefully
beside palaces in romantic nostalgia
imagining a Pavarotti Solo Mia while impervious
to structural-weight to the alder footings antiquity
today’s sun eases westward
creating the beauty that the
the grand cathedral can only allude to
a glowing radiance appears in the endless canals
allowing for space to deconstruct-
evening excitement materializes at that very moment as the imaginal raises itself before our eyes in the glory of
Venezia de Note