August 8, 2025
Tendernesses
So Much
What do I remember
of my own tender years,
long ago?
The click of a Brownie camera shutter.
My mother and myself
following a recipe
from the Junior Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
with its red and white cover.
The pleasure of cream cheese and grape jelly sandwiches.
The friendship of Lucy Atwood.
A song about Steamboat Bill.
Flashes of fireflies in summer,
cherry-flavored cough syrup,
a wooden platform in the backseat footwell
of our Plymouth sedan,
a bonfire at Old Kelsey Point,
chocolate ice-cream sandwiches
at the New York World’s Fair,
the embarrassment of having my shoes off
when my 2nd grade teacher asked me to step
to the front of the classroom to read aloud.
That’s it.
So little, and so much.
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3 x 3″; watercolor and ink on paper
card #2 to Caroline at camp
2025
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Notes about poem and art:
• “So Much” is an appropriation of lines from a novel by Amity Gaige entitled Schroder. I liked the structure and the implicit prompt of Gaige’s lines, and I took as my guidelines to imitate the essence of each remembered item in the original, i.e. where Gaige recalled a sound, I recalled a sound; where Gaige enumerated a pleasure, a friendship, a song, so too did I, letting those limitations spark images from my childhood.
• Backyard is the second of my painting exercises inspired by Lorene Forkner. The black-eyed Susan evokes a memory of Meg’s 2005 wedding day in Virginia. She, I, and the wedding photographer were alone at Meg’s home for pre-ceremony photos. When we suddenly realized the florist had not delivered Meg’s bouquet as arranged, we pivoted without blinking, gathering up a mass of black-eyed Susans from the garden as temporary bridal bouquet, and coming away with wonderful photos of those sweet moments of that July day!
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8 responses to “Tendernesses”
So….much….tenderness here. And I love that the title of the post is tendernesses….plural. Just perfect!
Your appropriation passage is so relatable…makes me want to write one of my own. And you know I love everything about your black-eyed Susan painting and the story that goes along with it. I can picture the tenderness of that impromptu wedding bouquet.
MaryAnn, thank you for your thoughtful tenderly written comments. You and Becky can each follow suit and write an appropriation if you so choose. I can send you Gaige’s original if you want, or you can use mine as I describe in my notes above. I plan to write a second appropriation myself! It lends itself to plenty of iterations : )
I was so impressed with Meg’s equanimity about the impromptu black-eyed Susan wedding bouquet for her pre-ceremony photos; thank you for appreciating that little pivot moment!
W
We are not so far apart in our childhood memories! Had a Brownie camera, used to eat Philadelphia cream cheese with a spoon, remember sitting in a seat of a car where the trunk should be…. rumble seat. (google thanks)I was at summer camp and my father probably came to say goodbye before he went abroad WWII.
Is that a color study of yellows! Beautiful card! Along with blogging, painting, I am doing Melinda Cootsona’s new color harmony course called Colorwize!
Carol, I love these ongoing conversations we have, all courtesy of having met online through art!
I have such vivid memories of my dad’s taking me outdoors to use his Brownie box camera—little did any of us know that someday we’d carry a camera with us all the time in our pockets, all the while calling it a phone! Eating Philly Cream Cheese with a spoon—awesome!
Yikes, I’m impressed that along with painting, blogging, and writing poetry, you are now also doing Melinda Cootsona’s new color harmony course called Colorwize! I plan to go look it up. In the meantime, my color studies are based on my own self-directed efforts in a “course” I guess I’d name ByGuessAndByGollyWize : )
Lola, I SOOOO cherish the magic and wonder of the alchemy and cocreation that take place when creative ventures are let loose—the words, the art … they become something new/more when received/experienced by another. (speaking of words, i’m struggling to find the right ones here!!!). So grateful for your words here, for your inner response. xo
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