for Alice
You’ve caught the colour
I don’t care how you did it
Tea the builders’ kind
(not my affected blend)
Tea and rust
It’s the colour of that sand
we stood upon
the first evening there
amongst the midges
when you paddled
like a child in the gentle sea
starfish at your feet
Now they are pictures
on the wall
finely framed
and in these little
books you make
This poem is trying to say
I’d buy them all if I could
but I have to let them go
Yesterday I discovered
how your miniature inscapes
capture a time and place
so precious to me
I had to hide my tears
and leave the room
You see I knew
those bird-like marks
(you’d sewn into paper
with your quiet hand)
were really our footsteps
seen from a distance
a measured dance
in the red sand.
Sep 4, 2012
Sep 4, 2012 at 4:06 AM UTC
for Alice
You’ve caught the colour
I don’t care how you did it
Tea the builders’ kind
(not my affected blend)
Tea and rust
It’s the colour of that sand
we stood upon
the first evening there
amongst the midges
when you paddled
like a child in the gentle sea
starfish at your feet
Now they are pictures
on the wall
finely framed
and in these little
books you make
This poem is trying to say
I’d buy them all if I could
but I have to let them go
Yesterday I discovered
how your miniature inscapes
capture a time and place
so precious to me
I had to hide my tears
and leave the room
You see I knew
those bird-like marks
(you’d sewn into paper
with your quiet hand)
were really our footsteps
seen from a distance
a measured dance
in the red sand.
Alice is an artist who I know and love. She creates images with collagraph printing and stitch. Tide Marks is the title of a series of such images and also a collection of artists' books.
