Day 10. Witness

Witness” 6×6, oil on canvas, framed.

Kelly Cherry wrote a poem called “Advice to a Friend who Paints” that I read quite some time ago. This morning that title kept simmering to the surface of my mind, and, since I am wary of unsolicited advice and since I am in fact a person who paints, I used her title to think about what advice I would give myself at this stage of my career. And here it is:

Advice to a Friend who Paints

 

Stop.

Go outside, be witness to 

Color.

Take up birdwatching

Rock skipping

Acorn-under-boot crunching 

 

Listen– the soundless wind

Makes symphonies of leaves,

Conductors of branches

The hanging kayak a drumbeat

Against the exterior wall of the house

You’ve turned your back on, 

At least for a time,

To wander far enough away

To come back 

 

And tell the good news

 
Picture of Denise Hopkins

Denise Hopkins

January 10, 2025

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