Bainbridge Island Art Museum: Dreaming of the River Passage #3

You painted or rather futzed and finished this the year
we were married, 2003, but you began it, 1979 the year
after I finished college. I guess it took you 24 years
to finalize that wow of color or maybe that pink paint

dribble. A sailboat leaves a small white wake as the rush
of blue propels this little craft almost off your
nearly six foot canvas. In another corner, a funny
little animal, duck beaked with overweight torso

resembling a perfect small show dog stack, except
it has cat ears, like those of tabby Sophie; she must
have crept into the imagination of your studio mind.
A couple about my age, stops to study...

she giggles. I look up. She covers her mouth like
a schoolgirl — says hi with a slight blush. They
wander off to another painting holding hands
as fresh as if they were sophomores at a dance.

Your blue paint dances, especially at the bottom.
You left an undercoat uncovered, maybe while you
were dancing to Miles and maybe he just changed key.
I am with you here, today imagining your hand

on this canvas. Signs say do not touch the art work.
What if, the art work touches you?


Josie Emmons Turner

Josie Emmons Turner is a poet living in Gig Harbor, Washington and was Tacoma’s Poet Laureate 2011-2013. Her book, “More Blue” was published by Cave Moon Press earlier this year.

The painting, “Dreaming of the River Passage #3,” is by Northwest artist William Turner (1940-2021) and it is on view along with a few more of his paintings through February 15, 2026, in the “Reflecting on Collecting” exhibit highlighting artworks from Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection.