[lit-ideas] Re: Horseswill and Spong
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 14:08:27 -0700
On May 22, 2006, at 1:34 PM, Ursula Stange wrote:
Would you send us the poem again, David?
who am I to comment on the famously generous spirit of the Missal
the shrewd piercing queries of a Parker
no one, a colleague, that's all
I just think there should be glasses raised to these two painters
Paul and Lucinda
after such long good years
we first met back when dinosaurs roamed the earth
I'm told these two had been here for eons already
painting up the primeval storm
I remember 10,000 Maniacs on the radio
Al Gore busy not inventing the web
Ollie Ollie north of Oxen Free
back then the salad days of college jobs were done
opportunities were rarer than buffalo
the once plentiful want ads were nearly gone
so when, a mere stripling here, I began like John Sloan to gaze over
the stern
senior faculty above me, to engage in the churn and wonder of this
place,
I confess I looked for color in all those older faces
and found surprising welcome, warm hues and clues everywhere:
these two taught me big things and small: the meaning of painterly,
the goodness in loose, some ways to see
how important it is to keep your brushes clean... and to be earnest
now these two will hie themselves off not to paint the town or country
red;
Paul may go down to the lonely sea and the sky to resolve sewer issues,
Lucinda will stay in her studio reaching for all the glories of
Longview
doesn't it sound inviting
you can see why they're leaving
so much more interesting than say grading
joking aside, the final facts are simple:
it will be very hard to go on without you two
but we must, because your example has helped to bring us here
many, many thanks to you both
Lucinda's work can be seen here
http://www.laurarusso.com/artists/parker2.html
Paul's here:
http://www.blackfish.com/portpaul1.html
She wanted my input about an artist I would want to paint a Muskoka
Chair as a gift from the university. Artist and theme to be chosen by
me as a surprise for him.
A website tells me these chairs come in "picket fence" style, so I'd
advise hiring Huck Finn to do the job.
Thanks to Carol for her helpful suggestion. I think, however, that she
overestimates what the market--as opposed to the faculty--will bear.
Note: I read the name as "horse swill" but I see now that it could have
been derived from "horse's will." There are Native American
reservations close by. Indeed "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in
Heaven" is set on the what's called the Spokane Indian Reservation.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
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