Dotty Wassily Kandinsky, #6: A Piece of Paper and a Loop of String
Daddy Was Crazy on the Road
Daddy was crazy on the road.
Remember?
He scared me to death.
One time he cut someone off
on the highway
and the other guy
laid on his horn
and Daddy stopped our car.
Just
stopped.
Right in the middle
of traffic.
Slammed on the brakes
till the man behind
almost drove in our back window.
Then Daddy screeched
down the road again.
I wished and wished
and wished
I had a big piece of paper
and a big crayon
to write “SORRY” on the paper
and show it out the back
so the other guy could see.
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8 x 8″, acrylic, watersoluble colored pencil, watersoluble wax pastel,
ink, and collage on paper
concentric circles and squares after Wassily Kandinsky
2025
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Notes about poem and art:
• I wrote “Daddy” based on a story I overheard a young man tell while reminiscing with his brother about their childhood experiences.
• Playing is just that—my ongoing playing with a series of concentric circles and squares using a variety of media. Biggest takeaway for me here artistically was the lack of conversational fluency between substrate and media; my art journal paper wasn’t great and acrylics were far less satisfying than watercolors. I did have fun when the wavy cross-page linework reminded me of my own childhood experience of tying a length of string into a loop and learning to manipulate the string into various “Cat’s Cradle” figures using my fingers as a loom of sorts.
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8 responses to “Dotty Wassily Kandinsky, #6: A Piece of Paper and a Loop of String”
I’m kind of glad that was not your memory…but one you just overheard. I do have times, however, when I wanted to share a sign that said “sorry” after a reaction from someone I was with.
The linework makes Kandinsky #6 just sing. And I remember those Cat’s Cradle moves too!!! Do kids do that these days? I think given an opportunity my muscle memory would kick right back in! Thanks for taking me on that little journey!
MaryAnn, thanks for sharing that you have times when you want to share a sign that said “sorry” after a reaction from someone you were with—I am fascinated with the way the specifics in a story/poem/painting can tap into universality, evoking responses beyond predicting.
Thanks for your feedback on the linework. I was struggling with this piece until then! And I agree with you, I think Cat’s Cradle muscle memory would kick right bck in.
“Daddy” hit me right in the childhood, where my mother was that driver, and I wanted to apologize to the world. You put me right there!!!!
And cat’s cradle! OMG that takes me back! What a great way to bring together a piece where the materials fought your dominion – it works wonderfully!!! xoxoxo
Oh, Lola! As I said to MaryAnn in a comment above, it astonishes me how often the specifics of one life, expressed in a poem, can touch the specifics of another person’s experience in ways that the writer could never foretell.
Cat’s Cradle : )
Thanks for your welcome feedback: love the way you referred to materials that fought my dominion. Exactly! Guess I showed THEM!
Yesterday I replied, at least I thought I did. Maybe forget to press the button!
Poem, OMG, if that happened here it probably would end in violence!
Cat’s cradle does remind me of childhood days. Children today are probably missing out of the simple pleasures, like playing jacks, hide and seek, etc.
Carol, thanks for commenting (twice, perhaps!).
Playing jacks! I was a whiz at jacks for several years! I got playing because of two kids I was babysitting. And, now that I think of it, I was very good at hiding in games of hide and seek as well. Loved those childhood games : )
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