POEM OF LOVE

Photograph by Christina Colli

 

 

 

My love for you is strong it survives everything.

Like a river it flows or even tumbles.

Fast and deep, heavy, full, weighted, quick.

You can catch it but hold on to it tight, not changeless.

Then soft by your cheek you can nuzzle it, and me.

You can lie by it in the dark

with faces cupped together arms entangled legs crooked

   bottoms cold.

All these words and feelings and memories are love.

All of them.

 All of them.

And me.

 

by Nina Naomi

THE TEXTURE OF LIFE

Photo by Shell Royster, www.shellroyster.com

This photo is filled with texture.  I want to touch the objects in the photograph.  The Irish wool plaid blanket, the old metal dish, the rusty tines on the fork with the wooden handle, the slice of split wood used as a 'server,' the brown curly seaweed and few snips of green, the crushed shell-sand, the chewy meat of mussels and clams, the rough shells in black and white.  

I saw this picture in BELLAGRACEMAGAZINE.COM. and was captured by it right off.  It made me think about why texture is important and where else we want it in our lives.  Comparison and contrast.  We don't just compose our photos.  When we can, we compose our days.  Or at least our free-time.  For me, Wednesday's yoga next to Thursday's pottery is a study in textures.  Wednesday's yoga is smooth and stretchy.  We lie down a lot.  We bend and twist and straighten.  We torture our hamstrings.  We move slowly, deliberately. There's an undercurrent of friendship and laughter as poses fail to varying degrees.  

Thursday's pottery is a different texture.  It's a hand-building class, so pounding, whacking, rolling and shaping.  Then dryness, hardness, shine or matte.  Colors all over the spectrum:  arctic blue, art deco green, deep sienna speckle, lustrous jade. . . .  And all that heat by the kilns.  If I were taking hot yoga I could compare.

Tuesday's book group offers more textures, more contrasts. More stretching of the mind than body.  More discussion, different opinions, points of view, negotiating the year's choices.  But again opportunities for friendship.  

And of course the textures of home:  the comfy bed, the view outside of leaves and bark, impatiens and begonias, dragonflies and lightening bugs. Textures from soft to sturdy to delicate. 

I see in this striking photo by Shell Royster a metaphor for our lives and how they proceed, intentional or not.  So many avenues.  How do your days fall?  What textures and contrasts does your job contribute, your home and family, your free-time?  My granddaughter plays soccer and alto sax. Opposites, yes?  I bet you have created a balance you enjoy, a variety that suits, filled with the rough and the smooth, the boisterous and the quiet, the planned and the spontaneous.  Am I right? 
                                                                                  Nina Naomi