Lake in the Afternoon (inspired by Parramatta River) by Michaela Simoni, an artist who writes, paints and plays music. She lives in Auburn, NSW. She is the president of C.A.T. (Cumberland Artists Together). Her works have been exhibited in many galleries. Writer responding: S.E. Crawford.
The Lone Canoeist
S.E. Crawford
before log books,
we, the navigators, moved water by
vessel, hand and instrument,
that it might carry us
at sea, we dared depths we could drown in
facing gales and enormous tides
studying the stars at night
inland, we mapped shortcuts
difficult to wade in
reading the currents, dodging snags
Here, in the artist’s weft
of the seen and unseen
shades tuning to the sun’s angle
microbes dripping from a rising oar
the lone figure wears no label –
explorer, traveller, hunter –
of this age or that
whatever the story, they belong –
and as a bird is, when shaking petals from a flowering tree
as the child’s kite is, when flown by the wind
and as the little grebe proves when rising
from the deep into the lightness of air
leaving home, heading home –
the rower is the mover in view
S.E. Crawford edits small publications and on rare occasions risks writing a poem.
Artist Comment: The poet captures in words a timeless quality of my painting. Like the river, the poet has a free flowing style of writing. The poet feels that the canoe is as part of the scene as the birds are. Lovely use of words and images .. kites etc. All about freedom of movement ‘microbes dripping from a rising oar’. So original in concepts. The poet makes us question – is the rower leaving or returning? The sentences roll nicely on from one line to the next.