A Vision Appears on a Brick Wall In Malone
Local poet jim bourey wrote this beautiful poem as an ode to the mural I painted in Malone, USA. Feeling incredibly grateful for the interchange of artistic mediums and for work that is meaningful and appreciated.
A Vision Appears on a Brick Wall In Malone
By jim bourey
Dedicated to the Artist Beatriz Leonardo
and Downtown Artist Cellar’s Jennifer Lashomb Bilow
1)
Visions need a clear and clean place
to begin if they are to make themselves
known, so people came with machines
and the power of water, tools
and purpose, and it was done.
2)
She came next, the Visionary, and pronounced
it good. I asked what the vision would be,
what it needs, would it be ready.
I will think, she said, learn some truths,
find some helpers. The best visions
are born this way. I’ll know more
soon. For now, I dream.
3)
And it began. The clean, clear place suddenly
had the color of a wheatfield brushed
with hints of gold. She began under
a North Country blue sky. Her dream
took form, became reflective lines,
became spaces and places
where she would tell
about history, about hope,
stars and connections,
about you and your new beginnings.
4)
Each day the vision grew clearer,
twining up and across the bricks,
and as happens in visions, the bricks
vanished. A Guide Star appeared,
then a river. More stars and Earth
found their places, and people
with ideas came and many gathered.
Some joined the creator
and others just marveled.
5)
And when the bricks needed time
to rest (transformation can be tiring)
the Visionary joined with small kindred
groups and helped them learn ways of seeing
their own visions, ways of bringing substance
to the pictures in their dreams, and those
became part of the whole.
6)
And it was finished. Celebration came next.
We stand and look, walk from end to end.
We see an ethereal beauty
where once lived brick. We see color
and shape and symbol. Each of us sees
in our own way. That is as it should be. Visions
are not commonplace, after all. They begin as dreams,
but Visions are dreams that don’t need to fade away.
