Linda Stryker

Farewell, Farewell

Farewell, Farewell

 “Farewell” 1961    Philip C. Curtis  [oil on panel, Phoenix Art Museum collection]

shouts ring out

           from inside the caboose

unseen children calling

           she wants to go with them

but wait one more moment she says

           waves spiritedly

golden hair tousled by a sweet breeze

           farewell     farewell

family dear     tethered in time

           riveted in space

various angles of lean

           returning reflected waves

the physics of love

           farewell     farewell

anonymous sky

           bleak land

bright & dark    orange & blue

           confusing the eye

old gnarled oak tree

           anchors the panel

keeps the instant

           of illusion alive

is there a future

           when comes a fall

does the family awaken

           unlock themselves

from frozen angles

           give their thin arms respite

trudge back home

flat painting pretending

           to be three-dimensional

a sham insert

           makes loss less painful

what is reality the philosopher asks

at the subatomic level

           the substance of the material world

falls away      like a panel

           crashing in the forest

leaving only grief to hear