Eye To Eye

Acrylic on paper and Masonite, 14″ x 17″, 2002

Eyes are

Flames, ice and mud

Measured
by sparkling machines
…Clickettyclick,
entertaining,

Telling you Science’s dictum.

Constellation

Acrylic on paper and Masonite, 14″ x 17″, 2002

A mind is

Infinity’s Playful Patterns

Lines and points

Bright synapses

(Dark matter)

The Green Monster

Acrylic on paper and Masonite, 14″ x 17″

Green is

The lowered eyelid

Red pale painted cheek

Painted lip (hide the sneer)

Ear to the fecund tragedy
of half truths…

Poet #1

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 1998

Pencil draws the line itself

Slow, by numbers

A hiding hand
…hiding eye

Parading faces there…
Three young men in hats

Dreamers—
This one; a Lover.

Poet #2

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 1998

This one’s a seer,

Thinker
(Quiet)

Assembling with stars

A perfect infinity

Poet #3

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 1998

This one acts:

Massive head

Golden tongue

Meters tall

Gentle hand
a wink.

Man with Top Hat

Ink, graphite and watercolor on paper, 10″ x 14″

Here’s a guy who knows
his way on the avenue.

Well fed
Impeccably dressed,
Knowing urban delights
in a raised eyebrow.

Words; perfect.

Farsight

Watercolor, charcoal and graphite, 11″ x 14″, 1990

My freest imaginings erupt in early morning silence—absent cars, barking dogs, machines and the 60-cycle electric hum—with clear, blank paper, a box of inks, water colors, pens, brushes and pencils.

The images appear as from a dense fog—imagination squinting to make out interruptions in a gray field.

Machine Head

Mixed media on masonite, 36″ x 42″

We live by Watson’s helix;

Our machines are us

We are them

+ imagination.

Mother and Child #1 (Key)

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 2000-01

This series is about the complex irony of this model staged in self confident, self possessed, relaxed control, with an innocent child. The name, “Frette,” is curiously close to the Italian, avere fretta, to be in a hurry—and children are the victims of hurry. Like a dog chasing its tail, part of haute couture is the hurried life in search of its opposite.

Mother and Child #2

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 2000-01

The eyes have it
her breast is warm

Her hair is lux
her head is mine

Perfect
I pray for home

Mother and Child #3

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 2000-01

Wrapped and swaddled
in hair disheveled

Her body is blood

(Ancient and deep
beneath her slender neck

…The ancestors tried, too.)

Mother and Child #4

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 2000-01

Hair horn helmet harp
Locks a spine
Baby’s cry
Fretted fingerboard fretting
Descending chords Cry

Mama

Mother and Child #5

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 2000-01

Teats antenna and gone

Hands untouchable

Eyes; shallow, floating

Shriek to bloody ear…

Elegant.

Mother and Child #6

Watercolor and ink on paper, 11″ x 14″, 2000-01

At last
Minimal mask

Simplicity
Peace?

Kry to a fretted mirror

Mama

The Purple Cape

Watercolor, charcoal, and graphite, 11″ x 14″, 1995

Remember

Powerful hands

Knowing glances

Security is the small child’s

Freedom to go out

Sure that they’ll be there

When the tiny prodigal returns.

The Gold Buckle

Watercolor, charcoal and graphite, 9″ x 12″, 1995

A man looks down to see it

The boy looks up

The man sees an invitation

The boy sees a wall

The men see eyes downcast

The boy sees Athena

Woman with Pony Tail

Ink, graphite and watercolor on paper, 10″ x 14″

Ever notice that models
look ten feet high?

Women look that way to boys

We look one another in the eyes

While little boys look

Little women buy Mademoiselle

Woman with Wolf Hat

Acrylic and collage on paper, 26″ x 40″

In the crucible of a Skirt,

Red stockings

Yellow calves

Play the game

Bounce the ball…

Hit the Bull’s Eye

See the moon

Back of a Man

Acrylic on paper, 20″ x 26″

Greeks found harmony here
and sent you to Marathon

Built Athena with your balance
then sent you to Thermopylae

Now they build you exquisite armors
for adventures in the cosmos

And send you back to the Euphrates

Shell #1

Acrylic on paper, 21″ x 30″, 1982

What is left in a shell
beached by the tide?

Whispers of life gone by
tracks of a bivalve

Stone evidence of millions
in beds on the Sea Floor

Shell #2

Acrylic and charcoal on paper, 21″ x 30″, 1982

Hero’s codpiece on the beach

Gone with the sea birds

Food for epaulets

Salted with a sea

Of lovers’ tears

Shell #3

Acrylic on paper, 21″ x 30″, 1982

Fish stretch out at low tide

Leftovers of some rite

Birds pick the eyes

The tide eats the rest

Telling us