November 10, 2011 Pad Challenge Day 10

Still Life

Pad Challenge Day 10.  Prompt , write a poem from a different prespective.

A Work of Art
I was created lovingly
By hand by the master
Whose family has done the same
Since the Edo period.

One day I was stacked and wrapped
And traveled many miles
Across oceans
And when the package was opened
I was in the desert

I was lovingly put away
The drawer closed
Alone in the dark
I wondered
What would become of me

Days later
The drawer opened
The light was very bright
A hand stroked across my face
I was then lifted
From my resting place
Together

A work of art was created

Pad Challenge Day 9

Still Life

Pad Challenge Day 8.  Prompt “Blank or Blank”

The Blank Page

What is this

What is that

All is empty

The page is blank

Waiting as the clock ticks

Waiting for your scratches

The mark that proves

You were here

If only for a little while

Pad Challenge Day 8

Pad Challenge Day 8. Prompt Normal poem.

The day is still dark
The moon is full
As he peaks into my window
His golden face smiles
On Election Day
The people spoke out
Against Fascism
This seems normal

Pad Challenge Day 7

Still Life

Pad Challenge Day 7.  Prompt “What won’t wait?”

What Won’t Wait
What is so urgent
That pokes and needles me
It is there when I close my eyes
At the end of the day
Lay my head
Upon my pillow

It is there before I awake
Urgent
Requires attention
I hear it call to me

Sometimes in dreams

The answer

Appears
I rise
To test this answer

The day flies by
Never enough time
The work will not wait

November 6, 2011 dVerse/ PAD Challenge Day 6

Still Life #22/ 22" sq./ gouache on w/c paper

dVerse: prompt “Color”

Color
Today I squeeze
The color from the tube
Into the pot
To mix with
Yesterday’s mixture

Upon observing
My work
At the end of the day

It was the green
That did not lay flat
Perhaps I did not mix enough

I begin again
My day is but a continuation
Of yesterday

It is still dark outside
The sun has not come up
To paint the world in colorful hues

All is quiet
Holding its’ breath
Waiting for me to get it right
Listening for the vibration
Of one color laid next to another

November PAD Challenge Day 6. Prompt: “addict Poem”

My Drug of Choice
Yes…
It is a form of addiction
I cannot wait
For the new day to come

Before the sun rises
I awaken
Coffee and a bite of breakfast
My mind has already
Entered the studio
Waiting for the
Turn of the key

In darkness I enter
The work from the day before
Awaits me
Alone
Excited
Adjustments to be made
A statement complete
I bow to my addiction
I work to finish
I want to see
Make visible

To begin again
Each step carefully measured
The drug of my choice

November 5, 2011 Carry on Tuesday

November 4, 2011 Pad Chapbook Challenge Day 4

Still Life #20

PAD Chapbook Challenge Day 4.  Prompt: Finding something.

Finding Something

My life is spent in the search

Looking for the composition

Marks made authentically

Color that expresses my soul

I listen for the music

I dream of the search

Solving the problem

I am never free

I seek to satisfy my heart

November 3, 2011 November PAD Chapbook Challengne

The Eastern Lights

PAD Chapbook Challenge: day 3.  Prompt “Sort of______”

Northern Lights
I wished to see
The Northern Lights
All my life

The crimson
Just above the mountains
Was sort of like
What I think
The Northern lights
Look like

The Northern Lights
Colors dance in the sky
Seen in Northern climes

This completes my desire

I will call them the

Eastern Lights

November 2, 2011 November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Day 2: November Pad Chapbook Challenge, Poets Aside, Robert Brewer  The prompt was to begin with a quote.  I have chosen the quote by Henry James, a quote that I live by.

“We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have. Our passion is our doubt, and our passion is our task. All of the rest is the madness of art.” –Henry James

The Work is our Life
Mr. James has it right
As an artist
First is to begin
We have no idea really

We work in the dark
We pick up the pencil
We draw
The brush
We paint
We chip the stone
There is no promise
Of the outcome

We do what we can
That is all we can do
The line goes this way
We follow

We give what we have
We work to the best of our ability
It is a piece we will sign
We will put our names on it
For all times
Today
And long after we cease to be

It is our doubt
That is our passion
We begin and end
With it

And all else is the madness of art
This is all consuming
There is no need of more

November 2, 2011 November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Poets Aside, Robert Brewer: November Pad Chapbook Challenge, a poem a day.

First poem:

Today
I put off one thing
For “another”
I do what I have to
For a while
It is how it has been

I cannot focus on one thing
Because I only desire “another”
I lay down two colors
Which delight the
Very soul of my eye

Breathless
I watch the clock
Working quickly
Look for short cuts
Still it takes
As long as it takes
The love of the “other”

In time
I will find the “other”
But for now
I can only do this one thing
I do not work for money
Nor to another’s directions
I follow my own path
Worn over centuries
For all times

I follow the ones who went before
I kneel by the fire
I look into your eyes
I place my hand upon your heart
I am encircled by the
Essence of your love