For our 2017 Art & Poetry pairing, one pairing was with artist Libia Goncalves and poet Tracy Vartanian.
Here are the works they created!
Libia provided this painting to Tracy:
26″ x 30″ (including frame)
In response, Tracy wrote the following poem:
Breathless until divine light descends
She is porous allowing His gift whispered into her soul
Absorbing its purpose
The winged column
Guiding her into accordance with higher will
And sacred intention
Inwardly aligned and
Outwardly lambent
She exhales the shadows that never belonged there
Sorrow, fear, ignorance
No longer her limitations
The darkness altered into infinite illumination
She is hope
She is faith
She is the light
…
The second half of this pairing involved Tracy giving Libia a poem as a starting point. Tracy provided this poem:
Lullabies and Dragons
Windswept forms and watered eyes look upon the heaved and open ground
Waiting to receive the gnarled and lifeless guest
Her thunderous bawl trails behind the soul
Barely done with lullabies and dragons
Flown with angels much too soon
Beyond her touch beyond her sight not beyond her heart
The second and the third watch with fearful eyes
The one who bore them crumble into a new reality
Too young to comprehend
Unable to grasp the finality of this demise
He’s not there they urge
And bid her stop her clinging
Being torn with urgency and care from his limbs
Her legs refuse to be restored
She makes no apology for her position
And none expected
Sorrow marks the moments the days the weeks that follow
Time nor even the hand of God will heal this wound
Her soul shattered
Her womb deceased
The crows return cannot fix this thing
Or provoke a new beginning
Moonlit shadows conjure lies
As she reaches and finds empty air
Her haunted rocking pervades the night
Through no reprieve
Tears dissolve the sweet youthful fragrance
Of a towheads tiny blanket
Ignorant of those still living
From beneath her darkened veil she never sees
All that they require
Within mourning’s gloomy depths she cannot attend
Her only illustration at response
Her anguished recurring murmur
Seeks hopeless resolution
Please oh please bring back lullabies and dragons
…
In response, Libia created this painting:
18″ x 22″ (including frame)
2017 Art-Poetry Pairing main page