“Sitting on the porch”

In this painting I am really trying to focus on the sunset without it becoming a cliche.  I kept everything dark and without description and then built the paint up in the sky to bring the light forward.  This is a view of our lake at sunset and the poem is a reflection on duality and choices between negative and positive.  Its what we choose to focus on. 

Sitting on the Porch

Looking across the lake;

As prismatic colors merge

to darkness, to night.

Tense, irritated, gritting my teeth

over-run by the bullying sounds

of big boy muscle trucks, mufflers regurgitating

the egos of their drivers,

doing their narcissistic best to infect my life.

stop

breathe,

just breathe.

Force my attention

back to the water;

day is dissolving into night

the colors, fill my senses,

The roar continues,

Trucks coming up and over the hill

Air brakes popping and exhaust rumbling

Ugly noise piercing, polluting the air

stop

breathe,

just breathe

My inner world transcends from tense to calm;

Harsh sound is absorbed like drops of water in sand;

Replaced by the lifting songs of evening

Cheeps of resident Redwings declaring their undying love

The splashing of fish feasting on flying insects

The whisper of swallow’s beaks clipping the water’s surface

I breathe the cool evening air

The highway din fades like a memory,

a pleasant hum remains

Incessant herds of Harley’s scream;

Loud as jack hammers pummeling rock

sucking up the tranquil glow

Erasing it stroke by furious stroke

And spitting their venom into the evening air

stop

breathe,

just breathe

love starved bullfrogs are croaking, louder as darkness falls

to my left I hear the tenative sounds

of deer clacking across the stream finding their bed in the meadow grass.

The quilt of night swaddles me,

I look inside and find that space

My choice between

on edge or at peace