Friday, December 31, 2010

Tucson Artist Melinda: Snowblind Under Cloud Cover: Happy New Year!

Image © 2010 Melinda S. Esparza

Young, hesitant flakes of white
fell silently on black fur--

I walked bundled, lured by the beauty to the north of us, in rhythmic steps,
Quieted
Embellished with a leash--

Loki, chaos of dogness,
eyeing the flight of pigeons grounded to drink the pooled water with gasoline rainbows, moved apace
(eager to stay warm)
Eager to complete his neighborhood perimeter check.

Snow blind, with a countenance like a child with a powdered sugar smile, my head was full of brown mountains dusted with snow.
If the clouds would keep their cover, black fur might turn to white--

This sight was dessert for our city, a Mt. Lemmon mousse atop a chocolate base,
meant to celebrate the end and the start of a another year.
And, like candles on a cake--
in a call and response from the desert floor,
prefiguring new beginnings.
Poem © 2010 Melinda S. Esparza

Image © 2010 Melinda S. Esparza

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year. Hoping, perhaps insanely so, that 2011 will be a great year, a better year for everyone--filled with good health, better work situations, good times with friends, and lots of studio time.Image © 2010 Melinda S. Esparza

16 comments:

SamArtDog said...

Beautiful poem, spectacular pictures!
Some would say, snow in Tucson is a cold day in hell. Not me. More like, a blessing in heaven.

Melinda said...

Thank you, SamArtDog! Glad you like the photos and the poem.

Yeah, definitely a blessing. Love this time of year so very much...

Donald Diddams said...

How beautiful, the poem and the pictures. I love how you describe the vision of snow as a "call and response from the desert floor, prefiguring new beginnings." I hope the new year brings you, and all of us, what we wish for.

Jeffrey J. Boron said...

Happy New Year to U & yours Melinda. Thank you for the snow dusted walk through your lovely winter terrain.

Amazing how nature can give us a view that at once is astoundingly new but the same yet again...

Jeffrey

Bonnie Luria said...

Your writing is as evocative as your painting Melinda. So very beautiful.
A painter is a painter whether words, or images.
As in " Loki- chaos of dogness ".
A perfect Picasso stroke.
Let's keep wishing for insane things, like better years, love given and received, friends, dogs, and more studio time.
Yes, let's.

Melinda said...

I'm right there with you, Donald Diddams!

Yes, the snow highlighting unique shapes on the mountain gave me a new vision from our valley floor.

Thank you so much!

Melinda said...

Thank you, Jeffrey! Oh, any time we get snow so close to our Sonoran desert it is a magnificent treat--one that really distracts this artist.

Wishing you all the best, all the time.

Melinda said...

Dear artist Bonnie,
Your kind words are sweet prose, and mean more to me than I can express. What a compliment!

Yes, I'm with you 100% in wishing for all those insanely wonderful things we all want so desperately.

To Paint, paint, paint!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Melinda,

What a propitious beginning to the year. Beautiful photos of the mountains and their majesty, and a wonderful poem. If hope is insane, I say bring on the insanity. Because what's the alternative. Wishing you and yours the happiest New Year. Here's to a glorious one.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxBarbara

Jala Pfaff said...

Lovely poem and photos. Beautiful.
Happy New Year!

Melinda said...

Hello, dear Barbara! Yes, insanity fits us well as we continue to believe in a brighter future full of paint. I'm for more crazy...

Now "glorious" is a term I would love to use to describe this year, come next December!

Thank you.

Melinda said...

Hey, Jala!
Thank you for stopping by and for your generous comment.

So glad you enjoyed the poem and the photos.

Wishing you all the best in this new year.

Linny D. Vine said...

Oh, joy! Snow clouds for the Queen of the Clouds! Cacti and snow in the same scene is a strange and beautiful sight. May happiness and healthiness be yours (and your yourses) throughout 2011! Thank-you for your words and images, Melinda!

Melinda said...

Happy new year, Artist and Mistress of Linnyland and Magical Environments!

Thank you so much for your enthusiastic wishes for this new year. You know I wish you the same.

It is a magnificent scene, indeed, to stand in the desert and see snow--even more so when the desert gets a sprinkling of snow. It really does happen once in awhile.

Virtual hugs to you and "yourses" too.

Hope you are enjoying the cold weather where you are.

---Queen of the Clouds. Liking that name a lot...!

cohen labelle said...

Melinda, Melinda! I have to catch my breath. The poem is stunningly beautiful as are the photographs! You've managed to express with words and image - the inexpressible - what can rarely be described except with music. A pure intuitive magic - you are an alchemist in harmony with nature casting brilliant light on winter landscape and much much more!
As SamArtdog would say - hope all is copacetic with you in 2011!!!!

xoMarcia

Melinda said...

Dear Marcia,
Would you please come and live next door to me and tell me such beautiful things regularly?! ;-)

You are very generous and I appreciate your kindness. Your opinion means a great deal to me. You are an excellent artist and for you to think my words and images communicate something meaningful is a profound thing to me.

May you continue to go forward with confidence with your own work, experimenting, developing and enjoying the process.

Let's all hold good thoughts together for this year.