Sunday, May 22, 2022

A Bouquet from Judy

 



Marsh Marigolds

 

Judy showed me flowers

that laughed away the winter

their gold faces, green warm feet

melting frosty cold and snow

 

reflected in the waters

not long ago hard with ice

blossoms lure the yellow sun

to once more warm her earth

 

Birds rejoice as in brilliant song

as Gaia arises once again

Judy’s gilded drawing opens eyes

outlined in black and white

 

The soul breathes in sunshine

starry pedals on greening banks

rivers, streams and lakes dance

again refreshed with waters of life

 

Much love to you, Judy Brenner

Artist of the wild, sweet heart world

 

May 2022

 ©j.m.frase-white

Always in my mind/heart


Sunday, March 27, 2022

The Case of the Blear-Sighted Artist


 "About My lOve, the aRtist"

 

Secreted in the hallway tunnel

I heard him tell my old friend

“How odd a wonder it is

a painter’s role to take

for he is color blind,

He cannot tell blue from purple

has to second guess.

Does not see red from green

Of holly berries in faraway trees

or spring red apples on a leafy branch.”

 

I stepped back into myself

a reactionary breath to take

need I find a defense to make

near-sighted or hue-impaired

I see the array of color

in rainbow of paramount hues

the passion in a flower blue

that burns with hues of red

or the brilliant lustful poppy

sharp crimson bowing to a heart of blue

the viscous flow of ultamarine sky

mixed with saffron tones

the kaleidoscope of springtime greens

that overjoys with yellow & hints of baby blue

 

as the poet crafts words

to sound the poem

the painter plays with color

until the surface blooms

the soil embracing the roots

the sun, the dark, the moon light

bathe it with the visual fragrance of life

 

I wonder though if in my works

Deception lies in my eyes

I do not see what viewers see

From me myself I hide

 

 

Pondering in the middle of the night of

International Poetry Day  ©j.m.frase-white 3/21/2022



(Top Photo: taken in the "glow" of my first Stained Glass Window, circa 1991, Rochester, NH.   Bottom Photo: Taken at Concord, VT, circa. 2014, maybe)


Friday, March 18, 2022

Botticelli on the Train

 



Botticelli on the train

 

What a beautiful dream I had last night

A gathering of artists, in St. Petersburg

(not the one in Florida), a convention

Creators of illustrations

Foundation Art for Children’s literature

 

I went about the room, aglow, alight

With the beauty of images

Splashes of emotive color

 

And then, one artist in delicate,

Clairvoyant black and white drawings

As if planned to decorate a nave

Branched images, sacred evoking prayer

 

One a blossom of a lily, filling the central square

It burst with color, so ethereal that the hue

Filled your mind, but not the visual space

Lying on her desk . . .

 

Across the room on each table the artists labored

That labor of love, but still there was a fear

A fear that the humanity would implode/explode

With the war of breaking bombs

And breathless bodies of innocents

Outnumbering the combatant ogres

Violating the concept of compassion,

of piety of the pretense of  a good god

The power of destruction

Haunting the dream

 

These images of hope

To be placed in a book

With words to tell tales

Enlightening minds and bodies

To the health of living, living, living    

 

And yes, on the way to the show

Through the train window on parallel track

I saw Botticelli looking at me

Holy curiosity in his eyes

Venus in his heart                                           


   Dream of 3/18/2022  ©j.m.frase-white

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Georgette Angel appears in a Dream

 



Georgette the Bon Bon Girl

 The artists began bringing in their new works

Gazella brought in new paintings of her dog Smitty

who we all had fallen in love with

for his charm was poured upon the canvas

flowers in full blossom in a field of green

 

Suzanne brought in sparkling bird works

fine and elegant, elevated from her cartoon dears

painted in her children’s books

 

Harvey had a comic sense

his strokes bright and firm,  a laughing somber

satiric punch at the world dancing around

 

When in the door came grand Georgette

a flower-painter of grand pretense

her hair a blond bouquet

 red rouge cheeks & bright kissing lips

her bouncing breasts in polka dotted top

her ruffled dress a frilly pop of pink

a tutu of fun draped long chubby legs

 

a look of horror upon her face

she knew she could not compete

hands aloft she squealed and cried

ripped her works off the walls

hung by tape and tacks

 

 some came off in half and shreds

by a maddened baby doll

 I tried to halt her hands

sedate her raging fit

love jumped out for this grown child

could not abide her hurt . . . .

but how, how oh how can i

embrace

her heart and soul?

 

Reaching out I came awake,

in my dark but dawning  room

moonlight and rising sun

the window waking too

I could tell her no more

a childhood dream of unknown source

of matters long ago, held in a tissue box of life

a crying passion born in human hope

paternal love and mothers’ milk

my family heart went out to her

for the child that never dies

 

Dream of 2/16/2022  © james m. frase-white

sketches & painting of Georgette in progress (finished 2/20/2022)


Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Flo said: "You get old, and get shingles. By law we should just drop dead at 70."

 

Flo’s  Mathematical Revelation

 or 365 x 74 = 27,010 Days

 

Flo said she had a very naïve

comprehension of numbers

said she couldn’t understand

how a person who

lived 24 hours each day

365 days a year, plus 1 every 4

going around the sun

74 times so far

had yet to learn

the difference between good and evil

that caring for each other

loving and laughing

planting and growing

working and playing

caring, crying and caressing

are good for each other

in our dazzling variety

for the earth

learning, loving the nuances

of life and ideas

was the reason for it all

How could anyone, she wondered

especially those born

with the pabulum of wealth      (like a once president person)

given the foundation to learn with /at the best,

carry the most burden and ability to give

could share the highest goodness

see only belligerence

violence and ridicule

with a center ego/mind of only a mighty

                          ME
in this little planet on the fragile edge

of the universe?                                                                                                              dream of 10/20/2020 © j.m.frase-white

 

About Flo 

 

                    I first met Flo in about 1887, in Paris when I was Gustav, the mystical  painter.

                    I do not recall where, maybe during an intimate concert,  or a nocturnal place, a party, somewhere performers of all kinds gather.  Immersed in the magical charm of absinthe we fell into friendship, enchanted with talk and art, filled with all that was new, the scent of paint, marble dust, exotic, elegant, in a free dance of all the senses.

                    A revolution

 

And then I met her again, almost a hundred years later, in Newburyport, in my café on the harbor.

She would regale me with stories, bits of wisdom and her history, with humor, wisdom and regret.

You could tell she had been a beauty, her eyebrows still penciled on, a beauty of her age.

Many a soldier took her in their hearts before being shipped off to fight the Nazis or the Japs.

Years after I left the port city, a friend told me of her passing.

She still visits me in dreams, sometimes from a half century ago, sometimes twice that.

 

À propos de Flo

 

                    J'ai rencontré Flo pour la première fois vers 1887, à Paris lorsque j'étais Gustav, le peintre mystique.

                    Je ne me souviens pas où, peut-être lors d'un concert intime, ou d'un lieu nocturne, d'une fête, quelque part des artistes de toutes sortes se rassemblent. Plongés dans le charme magique de l'absinthe, nous sommes tombés dans l'amitié, enchantés de la conversation et de l'art, remplis de tout ce qui était nouveau, le parfum de la peinture, de la poussière de marbre, exotique, élégant, dans une danse libre de tous les sens.

                    Une révolution

                    Et puis je l'ai rencontrée à nouveau, presque cent ans plus tard, à Newburyport, dans mon café sur le port.

                    Elle me régalerait d'histoires, de morceaux de sagesse et de son histoire, d'humour, de sagesse et de regret.

On pouvait dire qu'elle avait été une beauté, ses sourcils toujours crayonnés, une beauté de son âge.

De nombreux soldats l'ont prise dans leur cœur avant d'être expédiés pour combattre les nazis ou les japonais.

                    Des années après avoir quitté la ville portuaire, une amie m'a raconté son décès.

                    Elle me visite encore en rêve, parfois il y a un demi-siècle, parfois le double.

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Songs for Sisters


Return

Dear Sister Ruth

I painted this work after our dog Abigail died
her last few years
spent in the comfort of home, her bed
her life with those she loved
as illness took her body
as if making it anew
until it was ready
to return to earth


Ascension 
This work was painted for Alma
Our sister who departed on Christmas Eve two years ago
It had been started with the image of Abigail
howling at the moon
But
as Alma lay in bed 
  the eternal night came closer 
the image darkened
the world covering with the depth of winter
under a blanket of white

Today, Ruth, joins Alma
her body embraced by earth
 her life spirit flies free
 a flock of emotions, of temporal pain and sorrows
soar into the sky of eternity
the deep memories of being with you
held deeply inside us
all who have been touched by your heart
 your mind
and what we define as soul
the bird flying from the ark
of mortal life
Thank you Ruth
for the love you gave
the nurture
of your mind
your words, sharp and smooth
edged with the beauty of affection

your spirit flies also
to us, let us say it all together
yes, within "me"

Thank you Ruth for being you.

(Begun on 12/28/21)

 I stumbled through my little poem for Ruth, her daughter
Shelley posted this Rain Song . . . 
singing the sentiments so beautifully
for you
and we hope, when we join you
for us
Ruth Naomi Frase White Thawley
May 17, 1942 - December 22, 2021
Alma Lorraine Frase White Dean
April 26, 1937 - December 24, 2019


 And I know, Ruth, that you will be inside my art, in glass or paint
always created from the heart

Friday, January 7, 2022

A Lion King, Born on 3 Kings Day

 




Jonny’s Day!


He's not a cub anymore

pull back the chairs, clear the floor

it's time to dance the birthday dance

Put music's on, so swing and prance

 

Call the monkeys, call the clowns

Call the puppies, call the hounds

Get your silly uncles and half-mad aunts

Get your grandma with polka-dot pants

 

Ring the church bells from the steeple

Notify President, Queen, all the people

Tell ‘em high and tell ‘em low

Bring a cake, candles all aglow

 

It's time for a Super duper holiday

get that moon a glowin’ & the suns golden ray

Just what makes this day so mighty fine?

It’s Lion Jonny's birthday not yours or mine

 

Round up the animals, cats and dogs

Chickens, turkeys, cows and hogs

Sheep and goats and horses too

They all want to sing for you

 

Get zebras, cheetahs, rats in boots

all grab horns to salute with toots

It’s your birthday Jonny, so cheer

One of the best days of this year

 

Wishing you Jonny, not just the day

a grand salute to start your brand new year

Make each day a special treat

and keep the dance always in your feet

 

A smile on your face comes from the heart

embrace the challenges from the start

May health be yours as you learn and grow

with abundant goodness to know, and show


Happy 14th Grandson!