50 paintings before i turn 50

Original paintings with partnered poetry: #21-30

This is my way of celebrating my fiftieth birthday: 50 paintings and poems that I will create before I turn 50.

I don’t think of my writings as “poetry” as much as I think of them as songs or music. Ever since I can remember, I hear rhythm and rhyme in my head. Every poem IS a painting, and every painting IS a poem. Sometimes a poem will come first, then the picture; at other times, a picture and then the poem. The thing that frees me and also teaches me is that art has no rules.

full moon over dark water
 

#21: to the sky

And the sky holding millions of secrets somewhere Took a night to be seen with a crystal up there
Looking up, I was struck with an impulse to share
When I dreamed that the person was you
And I fell in another dimension and source
I could tell you were nowhere near sensing this force
So my life, upside down, was an obstacle course
Comatose, didn’t know what to do
So I took all the passion that couldn’t be used
To the sky that would hold me while I was confused
With a heart that was hurting, an ego just bruised
And the stars taught me how to get by
Said the stars, if they want to, then somehow they would
And you wouldn’t be frozen or misunderstood
I was given some reasons to give up for good
But I had enough reasons to try

#22: ages

Souls of antecedents,
So my soul believes,
Pulse within your branches
Move and shake your leaves

Circles of the seasons
Magic memory
Old and ancient secrets
Sweetest obsequy

Where my soul is lifted
Given space to be
Bits and pieces shifted
Underneath this tree

green tree with glowing trunk
 

#23: art city

Missing the thousands of noises you make
Problems to solve to improve
Dreams in my pockets I figured might break
Simple directions to move
One foot in front of the other, awake,
What was I trying to prove?
All of the hours I knew it would take
Obstacles, doubt, to remove
Building from failures and ev’ry mistake
I miss the way that you move

#24: who to find

What was the light on the water that night?
Not from the moon; she was hanging in white
Looks like the Sun left a fire behind
Books for the Dreamers and Poets to find
Something to keep us in love and alive
Some kind of wisdom and will to survive
Out in the wild are the forces that hide
Powerful weapons to break you inside
Some show you cruel, some study hate
Some learning lessons a little too late
Some with a soul that you can’t get behind
You have to look for the ones you should find
I think the Helpers are Lovers defined
I think the best of us choose to be kind
Hold up a heart that’s been broken and tried
Carry a beautiful music inside
Run with their darkness but carry their light
Had to be that on the water that night
Souls in a higher dimensional mind
Builders and Growers and Givers to find
I think the best of us choose to be kind

shining light in front of dark mountain
red painting of distant bright light
 

#25: to the place

I don’t want to be someone
You use
Temporary presence
You abuse
Offer me the heart
I can’t refuse
Lately you’ve been
Giving me the blues
Slow in always knowing
What to do
Moment of a weakness
Maybe two
I made certain choices
So did you
Tend to always like
My choices too
Fall in love with places
That I choose
Hoping I’m not
Someone you confuse
Maybe you don’t know
This bit of news
You’re not one to leave
You’re one to lose

#26: check mark

Are you growing tired
Spending time in long ago?
Swelling up with secrets
You’re collecting as you go?
In your winter heartache,
Is revenge the ice or snow?
Does the weight you carry
Make you nimble? make you slow?
If you plant a future,
Would you stay and watch it grow?
Are you moving forward?
Are you driving? Do you know?

painting of a bare tree in front of a ray of sunshine
 

#27-32: light series

All we have to do is play
From now until December
Maybe to the last of May
Then sleep until September
All a teacher has to do
Is tease a floating ember
Start a fire, maybe two,
Hope for some surrender,
Welcome all, and hope they stay
And learn to be a member
What will students take away
And what will they remember?

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#11-20

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#31-40