The Calling Under the Breath
Through the evening
the mountains approach over the desert
sails from a windless kingdom
silence runs through the birds
their shadows freeze
where are you
where are you where are you
I have set sail on a fast mountain
whose shadow is everywhere
W.S. Merwin
(published in The Carrier of Ladders, 1971)
Poetry and painting again...
I have set sail on a fast mountain... I was in love with this line from the first time I read that beautiful W.S. Merwin poem late last year. It became firmly embedded in my imagination, where it started transforming itself into a painting.
Soon after reading it, I was driving one morning and looked in the rear-view mirror to see a most magical sight... low lying cloud was breaking over the mountain range behind me like a huge foamy wave. By the time I could safely pull over, I had missed my opportunity to take a photo, but I came home and googled pictures of these kinds of clouds. How magnificent is this image?
Isn't it wonderful how nature gives those of us with over-active imaginations so much material to work with? I imagined constellations of paper boats sailing on those waves of clouds, and this was the result...
 
|
|
