"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Starry Night Cabin fever

"Starry Night," 5 x 7 watercolor card
When winter closes in, as cold as the stars, with short days, long nights, and rain or snow...
Cabin fever? Tis a season for the warmth of solitude, for quiet, for thought, for memories.
All you need is a cat or dog, a fire, a loved one, books, stories, imaginations, poetry.

"That does not keep me from having a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars."
   - Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother


The Starry Night

Anne Sexton
Inspired by Van Gogh's painting

"The town does not exist
except where one black-haired tree slips
up like a drowned woman into the hot sky.
The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars.
Oh starry night! This is how
I want to die.

"It moves. They are all alive.
Even the moon bulges in its orange irons
to push children, like a god, from its eye.
The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars.
Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die:

"Into that rushing beast of the night,
sucked up by that great dragon, to split
from my life with no flag,
no belly,
no cry."

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