The Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild (RBWG) reached out to me and asked me to participate in their Art in the AM program. As they describe it, “it is a monthly performance featuring visual artists, RBWG writers, and songs by musician Stuart Vining.” For their March meeting, I selected a diptych of abstract images I made in 2015 of a crumpled-up piece of metal I rescued from the demolition of the 1965 Cullen Bridge (Indian River Inlet) located along the coast of Delaware. These images are signifiers for both my childhood memories of growing up and playing near the old bridge, and a transitional time in my artwork where I was both dealing with profound fog of chronic pain and seeking direction in my creative journey. It wasn’t until 2018, when I saw the unique juxtaposition between the two images, that I found a balance that was fully satisfying to my senses. I was excited to share this with the guild and see how they may inspire their members.
I want to thank Maribeth Fischer for inviting me to this wonderful event, and Lora Mckenna, Robert Fleming, Anne Barney and Stuart Vining for their creative interpretations of my abstract art. It was a humbling and inspiring experience.
Lora Mckenna
Melodious Space by Lora Mckenna Many places which I stand/require deliverance/or some expansion/ where the heart bleeds into brain Six shades of gray I cannot reach or think of as anything But dank/and cannot yet Perceive/that there is light Soon, crawling through Dead skin/my brain and I Trade place and pull me Toward infinity where freedom sings
SON by Lora Mckenna Before my thoughts became you I was my tongue Hidden snake, silent, cold, refusing talk or thought Omniscient smoke blew through our secret tissues to make your eyes less grey more blue you came from slate
Robert Fleming
Human Galaxy by Robert Fleming dark as Darth Vader light like Luke Skywalker father & son – sun & Jedi Darth & Luke r the galaxy the galaxy of Luke & Darth Dark & Light r the human galaxy
A tribute to the long standing feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford by Robert Fleming When shade isn’t enough give grave.
marching is not just for soldiers by Robert Fleming a match & a thumb & an index finger & a strike match light lights fire light green oval leaves crisp to embers & not on marsh-mellow sticks a forest floor eviction with no court hearing black & red ants homeless ten-thousand legs march from under an elm to under a maple & four aunts & two uncles saucer & terin from the kitchen to the dining room table light candles & bless what marched forth from the market & nag future aunts & uncles to sit up & lower Johnny’s raised slurping soup bowl & hand Johnny a spoon & white gloves on metal majorette fire baton launch baton lights the sun
the price of fame by Robert Fleming the pond croaks spring orgy tadpoles to the fourgy the chorus ribbits Kermit Sesame Street contract will not permit conceived the next froggys
Anne Barney
Relics: 1965 Cullen Bridge by Anne Barney Waves and years have taken their toll and left a memory. Each of us so well-aware of being worn away, a gentle lapping, the cataclysmic slap. Each of us cross bridges that fall behind us. What once was unyielding, gives way. What once was straight and tall twists and bends. What once was strong enough to bear it is broken. Relics are found in the water below, in drawers of old photos, on pages, brittle and yellow, written in ink and tears. They are the relics of the bridge between who we were and who we are now: such relics, made beautiful by all we have endured.
Stuart Vining
The song “Dark as a Dungeon” is by the legendary country singer and guitar player/composer Merle Travis (also inventor of the ‘Travis’ finger-picking guitar technique), published circa 1946, with additional verses which Stuart gleaned over the years from several singers’ versions of the song.
