And Both Worlds Are Mine

~ canvas, pigments, ink and paper ~

‘Smokey Lairs’ acrylic on gold leaf by author

Words become pictures,

pictures words. If you ask me

which come first

I’ll be between a rock

and a hard place.

…Thick flowing lava,

hot words

that freeze outlines of day-lilies

into melting blue ice pictures,

now cascading as water

over time-rounded bones,

and destinations so far

that only prayer-like mists

can strike,

as lightning does

from smoky lairs

around snow-capped peaks

where dwarf firs stir in shaggy

crags, lofty homes to birds

of rare plumage — words

unfolding shy wings,

blackened quills

which drag images

across the canvas sky

like the hand of Michelangelo

coaxing puffs of rococo clouds

into dimpled cherubs

straddling all creation —

Lyrical breathing like

piano notes, rising staying,

falling then melting —

words pictures,

pictures words.

Farida Haque

Shringi Kumari Vaishali Paliwal Michael Stang LB Marley K. Tre L. Loadholt