Response to Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World"

Though your muted colors may provoke others to recoil

and search for other,

more vibrant scenes,

I find my reflection in your palette

and am drawn to it.

Though your stark isolation may leave others feeling empty,

and removed,

I find solace in it

and seek to dwell in your presence.

And by dwelling there, I will find  myself in you.

Mysterious and alone

yearning for something unseen

and though the path to get there is long and solitary

my heart is filled with determination.

What I seek may not seem appealing to all

but it is everything to me.

Response to Vernon Fisher's "Stick Chart Navigation"

your words burn through me:
sometimes cleanly,
leaving no remnants of my prior self
other times rough and jagged
merely marking my flesh
announcing your presence
regardless,
i am forever changed
branded with your thoughts

no longer am i beautiful and serene.













close up of another work, for purposes of showing detail of words.

Response to Matthew Ritchie's "The Idea of Cities" (Dallas Museum of Art)

out of nothing something

out of chaos nature

out of nature structure

out of structure chaos

out of something nothing

Response to Richard Avedon's "Debbie McClendon, carney, Thermopolis, Wyoming"

debbie always saw
that greener grass on the other side
and yearned for it

when she looked around
her home town
she saw limitations

beyond the city
the outside world held
possibilites

so she left
for a more exciting life
as a carney

bright lights
a new city each night
but

the days are long
the work is hard
she misses home

she thinks back and sees
no bad memories of the past

only green grass

Response to Robert Delaunay's "Eiffel Tower" (Dallas Museum of Art)

soaring above the tower
stuck in a single moment
geometric color fields
fall apart
unfinished lines
curve and
disappear
structure and nature
deconstructing
flattening
becoming
one.

Response to Gabriel Dawe’s Plexus 4 (Dallas Contemporary)

small
thin
fragile
just
one
insignificant
thread
amongst
millions
weaved
together
to
construct
the
social
fabric

Response to David Clemons’, “The Trees We Construct to Conceal Our Strange Fruit”

VESSEL

I am a strong vessel

capable of holding liquids

of extreme temperatures,

but not to the rest of the world.

They see me as a fragile

transparent shell.

They see me as delicate

with flimsy

beautiful details,

as a woman should be.

But I am strong and can withstand

things they could never imagine.

My surface is shiny

and reflective.

When they peer through

my revealing outer shell

to see what’s beneath,

they still only see

a twisted reflection

of themselves.

They don’t really want to see me,

they only want to see themselves.

They don’t want to see my strength

because that is not what they want me to be.

So I play into their game

and show them

what they expect to see

so that they will be satisfied,

but I know

what I really am

and what I’m really capable of.