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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Nocturne: Blue and Silver

Misty & gray, windy, with the temperature expected to drop from the 40s, when I went out this morning to exercise class, to 13 by tonight. It's a Fat Tuesday of general abundance disguised as a Blue Monday.

I started teaching a class in ekphrasis this morning, too, and it's fun to be both learning & teaching--exercising muscles, joints, and brain, encouraging full range of motion in all ways.

Came home to find A Wicked Apple, by Susan Slaviero, in my mailbox, and the chapbook sale is still going on at Hyacinth Girl Press, if you want to get 2 for $9! My very-forthcoming Nocturnes is one of the options.

Here's one of the "night songs" from it:

Nocturne 

--James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne—Blue and Silver: CremorneLights (1872)

No one noticed my shy shift to joy
as the lights came on in the bay.

The water reeds were characters
of an ineffable alphabet.

I switched from show tunes to Chopin,
floating on the blues.

I wrote my last testament,
left my estate to nuthatch and finch.
at

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2012 at 3:27 PM

    this is on my list! to snap up a copy of your chap yet this week! (this is a week of mondays for me. ugh.)

    sherry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KathleenJanuary 17, 2012 at 3:36 PM

      Thanks, Sherry! Adding to the weekday confusion: local schools off Tuesday as well as Monday, for MLK and a teachers' institute.

      Delete
  2. MaureenJanuary 17, 2012 at 4:25 PM

    Your poem so beautifully reflects that image.

    Thank you for the reminder about Hyacinth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KathleenJanuary 17, 2012 at 4:27 PM

      Thanks, Maureen!

      And that's a great deal from Hyacinth, which also offers a great deal in their subscription series, so look for that in the 2012 offerings.

      Delete
  3. CollagemamaJanuary 17, 2012 at 6:52 PM

    I love, love, love Whistler. Now I must find some Chopin and consider a nuthatch in the field guide. No wonder I never get anything done after reading your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KathleenJanuary 17, 2012 at 7:02 PM

      I love, love, love YOU. And that's what it's all about, baby.

      Delete

Go ahead and comment, and I will publish it after I get an email notification! Thanks!