"To watch them get a little older/ And give themselves up to the light."
---from "Tulips," by A.E. Stallings
"Sketch of a Tulip" oil on board by Lauren Kindle, 2016
(This painting will be part of the EZ2STEAL small works show on March 25th at Prallsville Mills, Stockton, NJ.)
"Tulips" by A.E. Stallings
The tulips make me want to paint,
Something about the way they drop
Their petals on the tabletop
And do not wilt so much as faint,
Something about their burnt-out hearts,
Something about their pallid stems
Wearing decay like diadems,
Parading finishes like starts,
Something about the way they twist
As if to catch the last applause,
And drink the moment through long straws,
And how, tomorrow, they’ll be missed.
The way they’re somehow getting clearer,
The tulips make me want to see—
The tulips make the other me
(The backwards one who’s in the mirror,
The one who can’t tell left from right),
Glance now over the wrong shoulder
To watch them get a little older
And give themselves up to the light.
"Vanity" oil on board, 5x7"
I would like to give a special thanks to my friend Kat, poet and creator of the blog, "Dragon's Meow: Poetry and Paying Attention," for introducing me to this poem by A.E. Stallings.