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Winter Cottonwoods East V

“Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw…” – Georgia O’Keeffe


1954 - she paints canvas
I test young legs
later we intersect
at Winter Cottonwoods East V
where a simple landscape
of burnt umber
raw sienna
mars brown
belies my assumption
for sleeping sap
absorbs me
in fresh wintry light

more in smudged paint
than fine line
she imparts a
deep alchemy
between
tree and sky
each broad stem
tapers to blur
like fabric frayed
in steady wind
each breath trades
sky for tree

desert canyons
send me home
full of sage and tammies
edges smudged
by steady diet
of wild water
strong light
her trees replace
my mirror - I am
winter cottonwoods
finding old folds
like new roots in granite

2004 -I rest
tired legs
she is canvas
we meet at the edges
swap moments as
maiden – mother - crone
breathe in
burnt umber
raw sienna
mars brown
trust a naked alchemy
my mirror- her trees

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