My love for words started when I was in sixth grade. I can still visualize that tan sand and blue ocean aesthetic notebook with white birds flying across the cover. Creative Writing. This was a new subject for the students in Miss Minniear’s sixth grade class. She instilled the idea of pursuing excellence in all the subjects she taught, but within the area of English in particular…I felt like a sponge. Literature, grammar, poetry, creativity, storytelling, prepositions, alliteration, rhyme, book reports, diagramming sentences…I soaked it all in. After being introduced to the world of creative writing, life seemed to have more meaning and aliveness. Miss Minniear had a tremendous impact on me, and I’ll be forever grateful for her investment in her students and our studies.
I remember our whole class memorizing James Whitcomb Riley’s poem, “When the Frost is on the Punkin,” and collectively dragging out “the rooster’s haaaaaaaallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence” each time we recited it together. I remember the vivid imagery I experienced while reading Carl Sandburg’s very short poem, “Fog.” I even had a short poem of my own published through a writing contest that year, which was a pretty big deal for that twelve-year-old. Those initial feelings of discovery in the power of expression lit a fire within me that has never gone out. I Thoreau-ly enjoyed writing poetry in junior high and high school. I’m also forever grateful for the encouragement from my English teachers in high school and college who helped me develop my voice and told me to keep writing. I still find inspiration in those classic works of literature, especially The Great Gatsby. The color symbolism lit up my internal world, and it’s still my favorite story! While most of what I’ve written since school has been in story or blog format, I have recently felt inspired to dive back into poetry…
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…Much of my writing over the last decade has been centered on themes of light and shadows – realities which we often hold simultaneously in our hands. (Have I ever mentioned my love/hate relationship with paradoxes?) But it’s not always one idea versus the other. Sometimes light exists because of the darkness. We celebrate beauty because we know it’s fleeting. Stars are more luminous with a midnight sky to showcase them. Pondering these recurring themes led me to the word chiaroscuro. This beautiful word originates from the Italian language, with chiaro meaning “clear” or “bright” and scuro meaning “dark” or “obscure.” Chiaroscuro is a technique in the world of art that combines vivid contrasts of light and darkness to create an illusion of depth, volume, and drama on a flat surface. Like the ever-changing colors, lights, and shadows produced from the sky, I think of our lives as vibrant canvases – painted from our palette of relationships, memories, setbacks, and the opportunities we take. I enjoy reveling in the magic of these elements, but I wanted to do something different from my usual style. Something a little bolder. I wanted to paint them into a poem. Countless stories and memories have given life to the words in this poem, and painting them here together makes me grateful for the brushstrokes across this canvas we call life.
~ Chiaroscuro Canvas ~
Like sunflowers chasing the golden goddess across the sky,
Like the crescent moon reflecting a cat-like grin in my eye,
As plucked petals predict the fate of a new connection,
The art of the universe is a coin evermore in motion.
When I once felt lost on my journey from there to here,
When the day became night and the light became fear,
As The Alchemist sought signs of synchronicity,
Perhaps the scenic route was always my destiny.
I’m searching for cirque merriment in these cotton candy skies,
And the curious cats will gaze up at the diamond stars tonight.
Clarity finds refuge within the obscurity of the tune,
Like shadowed reflections dripping from the fruit of the Moon.
Take my hand and let’s dance through the winds of paradox,
Until the hands of time arrive at the door with swift knocks.
The Canvas is bound by clocks and tailored with convergence,
Like Merriment fractured by her pretty ‘n cruel twin Evanescence.
Pour me a broken cup of subtlety and floral tea,
And I’ll spill everything from this kaleidoscopic painted sea.
Gliding through the ocean’s blue under black velvet and light,
For now all of space and time is like glass ‘til the Midnight.
Meet me beyond the stained glass windows and castles of stone,
Tell me your stories of walking through the Great Labyrinth alone.
Where our brightest light and our looming darkness collide,
A scope of Twilight overtakes Sky; there you are – and here am I.
~ Art and writing are my therapy. I often write these blogs as thoughts to myself after years of wrestling with heavy topics and feelings. I hope sharing what I write helps people feel less alone in this beautiful but chaotic world.
~ I wrote this poem during Indiana’s erratic dance between summer and fall. What a wild and scorching season it’s been! I think it’s high time for a cup of tea and the imagery of The Hoosier Poet’s poem about frost and punkins to be a reality.
~ The featured photo is named Stardust Arch Sky. This gorgeous piece is an oil painting on canvas sold through the Leonid Afremov Official Gallery. Leonid Afremov was an artist known for his vibrant, colorful palette knife oil paintings, and his work is now carried on by his family.
