Keeping Still (Ode to Pablo Neruda):
Original text:
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about...
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with
death.
Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
When Giving Is All We Have (Ode to Alberto Rios)
When Giving Is All We Have (Ode to Alberto Rios) detail
Original text:
We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.
We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.
We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—
Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.
Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:
Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.
You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me
What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made
Something greater from the difference.
There’s So Much Mending To Be Done (Ode to Deborah Keenan): Hand-stitched, found bandages, scraps, cotton thread. 12 x7 inches.
On exhibition at _____
Original text:
There’s so much mending to be done and what has been torn will take years to mend.
Deep Hollow Echos (Ode to Deborah Keenan)
Deep Hollow Echos detail
Deep Hollow Echos detail
Original Text:
Deep hollow echos nothing but loss, loss,
I want to frame it… to disturb
the dark with the message of emptiness