Signs of Summer
Withstanding the Test of Time
Every Saturday my sign leaves our mudroom,
takes a ride in my car, all 12 by 48 x .25 inches of it
stretching across the back seat
nearly touching the doors on both sides,
bright primary yellow like a highlighter marker, nearly glowing,
nothing more than a scrap piece of polypropylene
given to me by former sign-maker Phil when he closed his shop,
lightweight, weather-resistant,
with twin-wall construction and fluted ridges
that give it a corrugated appearance,
slightly translucent when held to the light of the sun.
In and of itself, nothing much to write home about.
In fact, I’d stashed it in on a wooden shelf
in my fieldstone-walled basement
and didn’t think of it for probably 20 years.
But then I needed a sign.
So I went poking around
and rediscovered it, brought it upstairs to my studio,
used a damp sponge to free it from accumulated gritty dust,
opened a can of latex paint,
and grabbed a cheap hardware-store paintbrush
to write a message of four words—fourteen coal-black glossy letters
providing high-visibility contrast to the almost neon yellow.
I enjoyed the smell of the paint,
the slight friction of moving the brush on the matte plastic surface.
Now, the once-neglected cast-off
is an unabashed weekly show-off
from noon to one p.m. in Ipswich
where folks in passing cars honk,
and clap,
and nod their heads,
and give thumbs-up
and wave and cheer,
and pump approving fists,
and blow kisses,
and call out, Thank you, thank you!
Now, it’s something to write home about,
now, it’s something to shout about:
HONOR RULE OF LAW
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3 x 3″; watercolor, ink, and watercolor pencil on paper
card #3 to Caroline at camp
2025
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Notes about poem and art:
• I impulsively signed up for a free online poetry class offered via Coursera recently. “Withstanding” was my response to the first prompt from the curriculum:
Make A Still Life: Without All of That Messy Paint … In the tradition of the Imagists, write a poem that describes an object. Be as literal and vivid as possible. Pick up the object, look at it from as many different angles as possible. Consider its color, its weight, its texture, its material and write up a picture!
• And Now Flowers is yet another outcome of the fun I’m having experimenting with color-matching fruit and flowers using the limited watercolors I have in my studio. I thank Dave’s garden again, this time for providing a beautiful tea rose blossom and bud for today’s exploration.
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12 responses to “Signs of Summer”
Thank you, MaryAnn for your appreciation of my poem and for your support and encouragement for showing up to protect democracy and rule of law; and than you for standing up for democracy as well, as I know you do! Little did I know when entering 2025 that protest rallies would be one of my weekly activities.
Caroline let me know that she has each of her cards from me displayed in the area around her bunk at camp (probably using push pins she borrowed from me to take to camp!). It won’t be until she leaves camp that she’ll get to see these art pieces in the photos where they are portrayed with their actual garden inspiration; right now all she has is a collection of 3 x 3″ cards with color swatches : )
Lola, YES to all of this creative energy zooming around. My poetry writing and artmaking this summer are such delicious gifts! Poetry courses I didn’t know I would take, discoveries I didn’t know I’d make, color studies in which I didn’t know I would partake. So many scrumptious surprises. And they keep on coming. Thank you for cheerleading and celebrating!
Thanks, Carol! Dotty participates in a weekly protest rally in Ipswich, the town that neighbors ours; they have a 25-week streak going, standing up for democracy week after week after week. Kol hakavod!
Happy you enjoyed the card, rose, and color studies. I am SO pulled to keep doing these color studies!
Sheila, what a gift to read your comments first thing on this brand new day. Painting the swatches is SO compelling to me, the chance to play with colors and marks and flowers from our gardens. And your feedback that you can SEE the details in my poem is so welcome! That was the impetus behind the assignment, and I enjoyed the challenge of creating strong images while also sharing a message. Thank you, thank you!
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Roseanne, I hadn’t heard of imagists or imagism either. Or, if I did, it went to a shelf so obscure and now dust covered that I can’t find the info in my brain. But I had fun following the prompt to give imagism a whirl and ended up writing a far livelier poem than I would have imagined possible and writing about a topic that I can’t imagine thinking to write about otherwise. The gifts of opening myself up to some classes recently have been many and magnificent!
And I continue to be smitten by everything about doing these color-swatch studies. Thanks for sharing your love of the color palette and my doing it justice in today’s piece : )
). Your poem captures your sign so well. And you do Dave’s beautiful roses such justice with the swatch. That’s one of my favorite color palettes. Just beautiful. 
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