Art Of The Word

The theme for National Arts and Humanities Month, October 7th, 2017 is Poetry. That immediately made me think of a poem from long ago and far away. This poem was the inspiration for a graphite and pastel work of two trees. The trees lived in Montgomery Village in Gaithersburg, MD. They are no longer living other than in my memory and works of art. One of the reasons why I make art, to document those moments that may one day be gone.

The poem is titled:

All That Time

I saw two trees embracing.

One leaned on the other

as if to throw her down.

But she was the upright one.

Since their twin youth, maybe she

had been pulling him toward her

all that time,

and finally almost uprooted him.

He was the thin, dry, insecure one,

the most wind-warped, you could see,

And where their tops tangled

it looked like he was crying

on her shoulder,

On the other hand, maybe he

had been trying to weaken her,

break her, or at least

make her bend

over backwards for him

just a little bit.

And all that time

she was standing up to him

the best she could.

She was the most stubborn,

the straightest one, that's a fact.

But, he had been willing

to change himself-

even if it was for the worse-

all that time.

At the top they looked like one

tree, where they were embracing.

It was plain they'd be

always together.

Too late now to part.

When the wind blew, you could hear

them rubbing on each other.

by May Swenson (b.1919) 

Here is the pastel piece that was inspired by "All That Time".