I hope to make a chapbook of these: a series of poems I am writing while viewing an exhibit
of 100 year old California Artist Milford Zornes.
He loved to travel and paint. Please feel free to read one poem at a time-- I am writing so much
--I've decided to post these in groups!


Low Tide at Doheny (1960)

flying white
at low tide
unveiled faces
on dark cliffs stare
pale shadows deepen
below on shore
colorful swimsuits wear people
like collected seashells
all wait with darting feeding birds
the gleanings

Winter in Mt. Carmel (Undated)

only the birds
watch shadows
of living bare
branches drawn in snow
hear the brittle wind song
dark percussion
of their wings
spread the sky

Gold Town (1972)

calligraphy of their raised arms
gold draped the almost
bare trees the shape of waves spent
with feeling on the near shore
unseen inhabitants
cluster in small homes against the grandeur
their faceless windows watching
evergreens marching up the mountain
into the purple clouds


The Meeting Place (1956)

fountained anywhere
reflective singulars
their shadows cluster closer
than the figures that drop them
draped women
sombreroed men
gargoyled totem
water spills its continuous white hush
into the colorful
collective lonliness

Barcelona (1978)

loud painting at Sagres
by the Hotel Avenida Palace
collective lives
a paintbox
the bustle blurs
into multicolor mix
visible conversation
vivaciousness of midday
at the crossing

Guyamus Mexico (1952)

what long deep words
the mountains roll
on their tongues
rose and green
over the tiny flat-roofed town
where man and donkey
move slowly and women
wrapped in concentration
are mute and making shadows

Tiyuana Mexico (1958)

from this vantage point
we see the blush of lives into the hills
connect by brushwork fences
watercoloring homes
always in the midst of
creation

Grand Canyon from the North Rim (1976)

it's the liveliness of the edge
last leaf tips overhanging the grand canyon
their unseen spill into the sky
mimics birds and distant hills
while eyes mostly fall downward
into a lower immensity
he copies the inscription
of wind-torn bark
on a nearby tree
does it say
manzanita
to the gorge below


Zion in Summer (1960)

sculpted monumental inner fire
stone emergence
aglow with idea of form
humble the delicate pale pink
italic trees
they blush with presence

Lahaina Maui (1969)

what vowel this silent pool
waiting the untouched bridge
consonant in her pause
the walker steps
into deep green velvet sentence
where tropical mountains make
growth that almost erases
visible habitation

The M.S. Galina (1980)

her arriving departure
knows the flap
of gulls and little timid boats
she unanchors and gathers her crew
knows she's larger
than her destination


to read the next eight of this series go to Eight Watercolor Windows

02/02/2008

Author's Note: Milford Zornes, California Artist, celebrated his 100th birthday last weekend. We attended the exhibition opening, and a wonderful windows of abstract, atmospheric, realistic views of world-wide landscapes...pened. Here my writings inspired by 11 of his paintings, viewed yesterday, written at the exhibit.
I had started to enter these singly--but I am writing so much at the exhibits--I decided to enter them in groups instead--here's one on "Low Tide at Doheny" --from Jim Benz, that I want to preserve:

Posted by Jim Benz on 02/02/08 at 10:05 AM "colorful swimsuits wear people" - I really like that, kind of an unintentional cultural critique. Sort of like my wife's theory of how the tv watches us. But the poem itself? I haven't seen the painting, but have to believe you've certainly done it justice. In the simplicity of your words there's an amazing amount of detail and imagery, at least for me - not to mention fodder for my own tangential thinking. I like this poem quite a bit."

Thanks Jim! (It took courage on my part--to say "swimsuits wear people"!)

Here are two other comments on "Low Tide..." that I appreciated:

Posted by Tony Whitaker on 02/02/08 at 03:10 AM I bet we cross paths at sometime. I loved the visual from this piece of Doheny! I know I shall pay tribute to Basel soon!

Posted by Lynda Rice on 02/02/08 at 04:12 AM "colorful swimsuits wear people like collected seashell," this is a beautiful line...I didn't read your note until I completed the reading of the poem, while reading I thought to myself "this is a painting." Nice work!!!"

Posted on 02/02/2008
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