HOMAGE TO MARYBETH AND PETRA:
An alphabet of poems in conversation with art.
Mysteries of the New Moon, 2017
Acrylic on canvas by MaryBeth Garrigan & Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/garrigan/avian-night-sky/mysteries-of-the-new-moon
Finding solace in a troubled world
by Stephen Wilbers
Growing old can be hard. Growing up can be hard. Some of us are attempting to do both at the same time, and we’re hitting a few bumps along the way.
In his poem “Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night,” Walt Whitman, the Bard of Democracy, describes our early years as “large, lusty, loving” and “full of grace, force, fascination.” Is that how you remember youth? Is that how you’re living your life now?
Where are you on your journey? During times of loss and
overwhelming change – loss of youth, loss of life, loss of limb – what helps you carry on? What helps you survive?
For me it’s family, friends, community, song, imagination, the beauty of the natural world, and the wonder of life.
I’ve been reading, and rereading, An Alphabet for Aging by Saint Paul poet Joan Duffy Johnson, now in her 80s. Her series of 26 cinquains offers gentle insights and delightful observations into a stage that Whitman called “the early candle-light of old age.”
Cinquains are a relatively new form of poetry. They consist of five lines of 2-4-6-8-2 syllables. They were invented in the early 1900s by Adelaide Crapsey, who was inspired by traditional Japanese haiku (consisting of three lines of 5-7-5 syllables). Crapsey called her poems “cinquains” (pronounced “sin-canes”) after the French word cinq, which means “five.”
Both the 5-7-5 syllable haiku and the 2-4-6-8-2 syllable cinquain are said to have lines that “ascend” and then “descend” in length. Both metrical forms are known for offering seemingly simple observations that can take on deeper, sometimes surprising, meaning.
Cinquains are generally (but not always) unrhymed, and the two-count closing that comes after four gradually lengthening lines can be used to create an abrupt turn – something like the volta or turn in tone and content that occurs between stanzas of a traditional sonnet. And as poets are fond of saying, what happens between the words can be as important as the words themselves.
With cinquains in mind, my own poetry has taken a turn, in both metrical form and content, partly because I wanted to experiment with the cinquain form, but mostly in response to an unfortunate change in the life of artist Petra Lommen, whose extraordinary paintings, along with MaryBeth Garrigan’s, I’ve been “illustrating” with my poems as part of The Avian Night Sky Collaboration.
On July 6, the day my friend Petra’s left leg was partially
amputated (following the partial amputation of their right leg in June), I spent hours reading and writing cinquains. I found the cinquain metrical form absorbing and preoccupying. As I tapped my fingers on my writing desk, counting out the syllables of each line, listening to the beat, letting the rhythm inside, I found myself feeling curiously satisfied and comforted.
When I visited Petra and MaryBeth after Petra’s first amputation in June, I saw Petra’s painting titled “Plenty of Stars Shows Off Her Beautiful Womanhood” propped on the seat of a chair where Petra could see it from their bed. That painting lifted my spirits. It also inspired “Blue Earth,” the first cinquain I wrote on July 6, the day of Petra’s second amputation.
Later that day I emailed my poem to MaryBeth and Petra. I
wanted to give them comfort and encouragement, in hopes that Petra would live to paint another day. I offer these poems (and the paintings that inspired them) in the same spirit to you now, that they may give you comfort and hope. And maybe joy.
Fairyland of Fireflies No. 2, 2016
Acrylic by Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/lommen/cosmic-abstractions-1/fairyland-of-fireflies-no-2
ARISE
I see
colors of life
you thought lost – ever gone –
spark and rise in your eyes – like fire –
they fly
Plenty of Stars Shows Off Her Beautiful Womanhood
Acrylic by Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/lommen/cosmic-abstractions-1/plenty-of-stars-shows-off-her-beautiful-womanhood
BLUE EARTH
crazy
foot never gone
one horse is still standing
blue earth white blood her stars shine on
and on
Loonar Communication, 2023
Acrylic by MaryBeth Garrigan & Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/garrigan/avian-night-sky/loonar-communication
CALLING
she is
calling calling
aflame with northern lights
she hears their clacking and then her
own wail
Byzantine Café, 1984
Acrylic on canvas by Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/lommen/women-of-the-80s/byzantine-cafe
DAMSEL FLIES
how long
one two three four
six days or months or years
four damsel flies beget eight billion
new ones
Culmination of Seven Stars at Midnight, 2022
Acrylic on wood by Petra Johnita Lommen
ww.uglydaisy.com/lommen/cosmic-abstractions-1/culmination-of-the-
seven-sisters-at-midnight
EPITAPH
do what
makes you happy
enjoy life and be good
to the people and the planet
you love
Corvus Minor, 2022
Acrylic by MaryBeth Garrigan & Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/garrigan/avian-night-sky/corvus-series-1
FINDING YOU
time flies
on glowing rings
there is no end in sight
spirits rising on painted wings
hold tight
Self-Portrait Observing the Milky Way, 1981
Acrylic on canvas by Petra Johnita Lommen
www.uglydaisy.com/lommen/women-of-the-80s/self-portrait-observing-the-milky-way
GEOGRAPHY
(after Joan Duffy Johnson)
many
have followed this
river of souls that threads
the starry night sky – but not you
not yet
HARMONY
pytha
goras – demo
crazy is harmony
cosmos the universe not this
madness
I SEE YOU
I see
invisible
you – a woman joining
the light the sound and the fury
of night
JINGLE DRESS
lights out
for her and him
starfish twisting climbing
through whirling twirling milky way
of time
KNIGHT
now what
starry starry
knight? no feet but both ears –
and two hands to hold your brush to
the sky
LISTENING
I don’t
know why this is –
but through the gentle touch
of your brush I hear things I can
not see
MUSICAL INTERLUDE:
Hallelujah!
two four
six eight break a throne
and celebrate with minor third and sharpened sword
has david really pleased
the lord?
NO CRAWLING
when she
said to Petra
I want you to paint with me
at the art crawl – I thought – don’t crawl
stand tall
OUT
calling
calling calling
a flame burns blue and white
a beam a clack a northern night –
then ice
PATCHED IN
(after Joan Duffy Johnson)
for Adelaide Crapsey
decades
divide our time
at lake saranac – last
days for you – for us – a honey
delight
QUARRELXOME
(after Joan Duffy Johnson)
never
cranky not you
no spice in your stewed peas
no peppered spite – only love from
above
REGENERATION
(after Joan Duffy Johnson)
the un-
known calls your name
come it says have no fear
be grateful for what I bestow
and grow
SONG SUNG BLUE
play me
the colors of
life you are the stars she
is the moon she is always there
for you
TALL TREES
dad loved
tall trees – like you
bright stars and moonstruck nights
alive like you so full of life –
don’t go
UNCOVERED (after Joan Duffy Johnson)
for Adelaide Crapsey
freedom
she never had –
never far from death was
she – never time nor will to wear
a mask
VALLEYDALE
valley
dale where I grew
up under starry skies
now two artists and a fairy
guide me
WARNING
(after Adelaide Crapsey)
doctors
fly like white moths
while loved ones stand about
crying – laughing – knowing – I’m not
yet cold
XENIA
(in the spirit of Zeus Xenios)
for Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers
first food
then we can talk
first star I see tonight –
respect honor caring love – not
garbage
YEARNING FOR YOUR TOUCH
(after Joan Duffy Johnson)
pulled by
the undertow
of desire . . . night yearns for
your steadfast touch – your gift to her
of light
ZEUS FROM AUTOHARP
I knew
you would be back –
collapsing red star – now
bright white dwarf – about to explode
with joy
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