She’s ageless, larger than life and nimble as a sprite, carefree, wise, and if she inspires fear, it is from the certainty she knows things, that her life is happier, this woman of big wet sloppy lipsticked kisses Dancing in the Street.
Tag: poetry
TERRACED TOBACCO
It’s been a long road. Each terrace is a milestone, a relief to my thighs, my back, an artificial landscape that’s been here so long even the island accepts it as natural. Row after row, sweet smell of tobacco drying in the sun, hemmed in by prickly bushes that tear my thin trousers. It helps to imagine the road as a fast flowing river, blue with little white caps carrying me along. I feel at home detouring up and down the rows, trickling like irrigation ditches that come and go with the barely perceptible seasons. I want to stop at the white roofed buildings, see if they might have something for me; to eat, a place to lay my head, maybe forever. It might be better than anything over the hill.
Peggy painted over Terraced Tobacco, it no longer exists. I felt compelled to post it because the verse the painting inspired, its blue road, the long white roofs, the horizon over the hill, speaks to me, puts me walking through my vines and lateral acequia ditches in Taos, always on a journey, even when at home.
DAILY ROUTINE
She’s a faithful old girl, yawning for the dentist, with a Bondo facelift and dentures fashioned out of parts from broken down Soviet refrigerators. On every street clubs of men tinker with their cars. Artists make brake pads and solenoids in their living rooms. The hood comes down. A puff of blue smoke, and like magic she smiles and runs smooth as factory new.
From Cuba, An Adventure in Image and Word, Paintings by Peggy McGivern and verst by Peter Stravlo, Abend Gallery, Denver
GREEN OVERALLS
The technology is simple, brute strength under the hot sun. Everyman work, though not every man has had to do it. Praise them in poetry, appoint them our philosopher kings, for tying the rails together, making it safe for everyone to get somewhere. We should all wear green overalls.
AUSTIN HEALEY
Shutters are mainly open and wires crisscross in front of four stories. A mother sings a love song and scrubs her family’s clothes. On a floor below a boy ties his tie, dons a green jacket and red hat before skipping down flights of stairs to meet up with friends. A warm breeze turns the pages of a book while a girl does her homework, wondering how she’d get to school without her pony. On the ground floor men gather each evening to discuss how to make the parts they need to keep the Austin Healey running.
From Cuba: An Adventure in Image and Word. Opening reception tonight, 5-8pm Abend Gallery Denver. Paintings by Peggy McGivern and verse by Peter Stravlo. I’ll be reading tonight.
ORANGE BUILDING
Rain is washing color down the canvas, making one-of-a-kind rectangles and obtuse triangles, highlighting windows and doors to my imagination. There are an infinite number of compositions, but waving the white flag of surrender, all eyes are drawn to the Orange Building.
BLUE COURTYARD
It is too difficult to describe all the colors. Blue, black, and beige will have to do. Just imagine sitting on the only chair, waiting, patiently, for every impulse to run its course. Before long, don’t try too hard, the night sky of your mind, bathed in the light of your eyes, fills up with infinite abstract possibilities.
Two posts today. They are in my mind related. Opening Reception tomorrow! Abend Gallery, Denver
LOCAL FLORA
Careful how you peel it, succulent as it looks. No doubt it is foreign, but not completely unfamiliar. Juicy, seductive, already there is a bite out of it. Surely you want to taste before judging, so search your memory, maybe deep in the tangles there is a useful experience, a reference point to pivot from. If not, open wide.
From Cuba: An Adventure in Image and Word, Opening Reception Friday May 16 5-8pm Abend Gallery Denver. I’ll be reading at the Reception.
TIN FENCES
The light has to be just right, to experience this sheen of blue from corrugated tin. In pure form they are primary, abstract. Alloyed together tin and blue become harmonious, useful. It’s not difficult to build such a fence, prop it up, cobble it together, let its sadness wash over you like the setting sun.
From Cuba: An Adventure in Image and Word, paintings by Peggy McGivern and verse by Peter Stravlo, Opening Reception Friday May 16 5-8pm, Abend Gallery, Colfax and York Denver. Peter will be reading at the reception
WHITE ON WHITE
There’s no urgency, she’s getting her work done using a minimum of resources, living and working at the same time. Airing her laundry on the balcony, she’s my doctor or my waitress; my neighbor. We all live in the same kind of apartment, wear similar clothing, eat the same food, enjoy free education and health care. We are democratic. Instead of competing with each other, we are all in it together.
From Cuba: An Adventure in Image and Word, paintings by Peggy McGivern and verse by Peter Stravlo, Opening Reception Friday, May 16, 5-8pm, Abend Gallery, Colfax and York, Denver. I’ll be reading at the opening.
Peter Stravlo's Blog 