Dotty Wassily Kandinsky, #2: Something Old, Something New
Milky Way
The whisper
of my milk
in the night
is the shout
of wintermelt
spraying,
splashing
down a mountain.
Meg’s fine bone-china
jaw compresses,
tiny tongue
tugs my breast.
Sweet and sure.
I feed her.
She fills me.
Her satin foot
dances upside down
on my cheek,
static sparking.
By this night light
I read
magazines
mothers’ journals
child development research
best-sellers.
We travel connected,
swollen lips
to swollen breast,
on our milky way.
Page becomes chapter
night leapfrogs night
month gives way to year.
I see no end.
Then,
she lifts
a two-handled
bone-china cup
to her lips.
My breasts weep.
But Meg,
Meg marches on sturdy feet
climbs on my lap
offers me
chubby-board books
with her pudgy fingers.
“Read!” she says,
and I feed her
on demand.
Chubby-board becomes picture story
easy-reader leads to chapter book
months give way to years.
Now, school papers
quilt Meg’s bed.
Her legs are
three
and a half
miles
long,
end with painted
toenails.
Young breasts
swell.
She pushes aside
hairbrush
and homework,
finds a plastic-covered
library book,
gum wrapper holding our place.
“Read the next chapter?”
I give voice to
the unfolding story.
Meg massages
my day-heavy feet
with oils
and powders.
We drink
one from the other
still.
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8 x 8″; gouache, acrylic, pencil, and paint marker on paper
concentric circles and [implied] squares after Wassily Kandinsky
2025
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Notes About Poem and Painting:
• I wrote “Milky Way” when Meg was about eleven years old, 35-36 years ago. The story continues to unfold; we drink one from the other still.
• Her Satin Foot is the second of my Kandinsky-inspired art journal escapades created while at SisterFest25 just two weeks ago, mid-June.
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12 responses to “Dotty Wassily Kandinsky, #2: Something Old, Something New”
What beautiful memories! Moments that fleet by without our watching painted with beautiful words. Read several times to really feel the effect. Have you given thought of publishing and illustrating your poems?
Love your intricate circles, so much to learn from these color mixes!
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Carol, thank you for your thoughtful reflective comments/feedback here. I appreciate and delight in your reading “Milky Way” several times “to really feel the effect.”
Thanks for your vote of confidence in asking if I’ve given thought to publishing and illustrating my poems. The answer: beyond publishing my poems here at my blog with accompanying art, no, not thus far!
The Kandinsky concentric circles explorations have been captivating. I continue to play with them.
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What a marvelous aubade to motherhood, and how wonderful you still have this poem with you.
Simone, thank you for your feedback! I forget what specifically prompted me to write that poem when I did, and I don’t remember what might have led me to tie the whole piece together the way I did, but I am SO glad i put this core piece of being a mother-daughter dyad with Meg into writing.
Just last week, before I posted the poem in my blog, Meg asked if I could have my signature pasta sauce recipe prepped for her lunches for this week while they are visiting and I told her I was sure I already had some in the freezer. I texted her a couple days later to tell her that I’d rustled up a huge vat of the sauce (in the middle of a heat wave!) for her when I discovered that in fact I did NOT have any in the freezer. I laughed at her return text: “Thank you so much for the sauce!!!!!! This is how you nurse your 46-year-old daughter!!!!!!”
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I sat still after reading your words. The imagery, the emotions. Joy beyond measure. Boundless love. I didn’t want to say goodbye to … all the feels.
Your art is such a delightful treat! Easing me back into my day. Dancing colors. Joyful spinning. Makes me think of stunning Flamenco dancers circling in unison. ¡Olé!
Love the idea of a Dotty Seiter book! xoxo
Sheila, I’m sitting still myself now, savoring your tender feedback in response to “Milky Way.” Thank you. Revisiting this poem and posting it have brought up such sweet memories for me.
And I love seeing my painting—those stunning Flamenco dancers circling in unison—through your eyes. ¡Si! ¡Olé!
Dotty ~ how much do I love this poem. (Not a question really.) Again, so evocative and tender. I’m sure sons have a special place in their mother’s heart (I can’t know this) but it seems to me, mothers and daughters have unique bonds. If we’re lucky – and blessed. This I do know.
And might I just say Kandinsky would be impressed and proud. These are beautiful. Might you frame them side by side for hanging? They’d be lovely.
♥️Roseanne, thank you for your thought-ful comments. I read them last night just before bed, on the eve of the departure of my family after a week of being together sharing the fullness of life. So many deep bonds, so much laughter, so much tenderness, so much so much : )
I know you and Elena share a wonderful unique bond as a mother-daughter dyad, and I appreciate your letting me know my poem was “so evocative and tender” for you.
And thank you for your fun suggestion that I might frame my Kandinsky-inspired pieces and hang them side by side. Hadn’t even considered that!
