Art Poetry 2019 – Deb Bottomley and Frank Robertson

For our 2019 Art & Poetry pairing, one pairing was with poet Frank Robertson and artist Deb Bottomley.

Here are the works they created!

Deb Bottomley provided this artwork to Frank:

In response, Frank wrote the following poem:

Watching Her

Watching her every day…
as she sleeps, as she plays.

Watching her grow year after year…
inches more, knowledge gained.

Watching her and her friends…|
what they like, what they do.

Watching her as she matures…
a girl no longer, a woman now.

Watching her with her husband and children…
watching them, again and again.

Watching her, watching you…
feeling proud!, feeling good!

The second half of this pairing involved Frank giving Deb a poem as a starting point. Frank provided this poem:

Wildflowers

What is it they want us to see?
What is it they want us to be?

They come and they go,
Some return again and again.
Some are treated with disdain.
Others are simply ignored.

They can be found throughout our landscapes,
in groups or often alone.
Few are the lucky ones,
who have found lovely homes.

They live worldwide among wetlands and arid soils,
open fields, hills and valleys, in sun and shade.
They often have close neighbors who blossom none,
so they grace their place with striking blooms of white, yellow, red and blue tones.

There are other types of boutonnieres.
Those are admired and welcomed by most.
They live in special places: showplaces of their hosts.

So why aren’t wildflowers welcomed as well?
Have they not proved themselves? Are they not of comparable beauty?
Maybe if they were viewed as God’s creations, without discrimination,
their unique shapes and colors would outshine others, and find them lovely homes.

Enjoy them! I say.
While they last,
Before their fabulous lives have passed.
Together they reveal radiant beauty (as life can be).
For soon they will go, perhaps never more to be seen.

In response, Deb provided this artwork:

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2019 Art-Poetry Pairing main page