The Day the Plein Air Painting
class met it was hot,
exuberant, after months
of gray. I turned left
at the Jesus is Lord sign
and met six women,
at the Jesus is Lord beach.
Vermilion, orchre, cerulean blue,
the colors were all out that day,
and we learned to create
the palest wash, search the horizon
for light and shadow.
We painted on the muddy banks
of Chimacum creek, while heron
kept watch and eagles circled.
And we worked all afternoon
until the tide filled the creek
to overflowing.
Then we stripped off our clothes
and entered the water undefined
left the shadows of the trees
to become the light
in our very own landscape.
Gayle Kaune
First published in All the Birds Awake, Tebot Bach.
Gayle Kaune is widely published in literary magazines. Her chapbooks include, Concentric Circles, winner of the Flume Press Award and N’Sid-Sen-Star. Her books are Still Life in the Physical World, published by Blue Begonia Press and her latest, All the Birds Awake published by Tebot Bach. She lives in Port Townsend with her husband and a ghost dog. She paints occasionally, when she gets up the courage.