This lovely painting is by Cyndi Svob. She painted it after reading my poem:
WINTER NIGHTS
Dreary, weary, threatening clouds hover.
Gone is the blue sky, golden sun.
Snow swirls, spreading its cottony cover.
Summer’s distant warmth and bloom undone,
the darkness permeates my very being.
Birds flock together, moving as one.
A solitary doe moves warily, feeding
on shoots of grass beneath the snow.
Her two fawns gambol about, running and leaping
and bring a warming feel of life, though
it’s only for a fleeting moment; instead
the doe is swiftly gone, her children follow.
Morning dawns, a golden sky tinged with red.
Clouds roll in with yet more snow to offer;
I turn and crawl back in my still-warm bed.
I was thrilled when Cyndi showed her painting the night we all presented our results! And the whole room vibrated with emotion: appreciation and pure joy filled the air as the new paintings and poems were displayed, explained and applauded, one by one.
I’m a member of WRITERS FORUM, a group of people who meet at Thorold Public Library. Two years ago 8 of us participated in the POET/PAINTER EXCHANGE presented by the St Catharines Art Association. The example above was one of the partnerships.
That year we were paired up by random draw, and each set of two people traded a poem or story for a painting. Cyndi gave me a twin photographic rendering close-up of a knife and fork. I had fun with that! And the humour in my story was exactly what Cyndi had wished for. Here it is:
OUT FOR DINNER
“Lady Dyna, it is indeed lovely to see you again!” his silvery voice cut the air in the empty room. Table settings were completed and everything laid ready.
“Sir Raulfe!” she answered, a slight sharpness in her tone. “You old flirt!” She glanced quickly around, and continued, “It’s always wonderful to get out of that stuffy old box! Where are we tonight?”
“Some athletic club or other, I expect,” he replied, “judging from the banners on the walls and all those trophies gleaming in a row over there.”
“Oh, how tiresome! Not tonight! I’m not in the mood for being manhandled by a tipsy jock. I had so hoped for a quiet literary function of some sort.”
“My dear, whatever could I possibly do to help?” Sir Raulfe was truly upset. To rescue the sleek Lady Dyna from the clutches of a rival male would have been greatly to his liking. “But, you know, it always happens when an uncultured boor starts waving his fork around, he invariably has his knife tightly clutched in his other hand!!”
The evening dragged on and they bore the rowdiness with admirable stoicism. Hours later, a team of waiters came around to clear the long tables. Their chatter filled the room with a low drone as they worked.
Lady Dyna nearly fainted when she heard a voice near her say, “Well, Rupe, it’s the last public dinner for these old relics. Pack them all in together tonight. They’re being shipped off to a junk dealer.”
“Sir Raulfe, Sir Raulfe, did you hear that?” she shrieked, her tines bristling.
“At last! I dreamed of this happening! Now we can be together, my dear! Some kind person will buy the box and take us all home to a normal family, where we will be treasured and given the respect we deserve.” The words faded as he sailed through the air and landed with a metallic rattle in the cardboard box.
“Oh, Sir Raulfe, I hope so, I do very much hope so!” and she arrived with a tinny clunk beside him.
You see? Total surprise, wasn’t it?
Well this year, Writers Forum invited the St Catharines Art Association to do another exchange. The difference we are trying on for size is doing two separate drawings of names. So I will receive a painting from one person, and give a piece of writing to another one. All the more room for discovery, surprises, creations that delight and amaze.
Stay tuned for the results!! Or try it yourself with your writing or painting groups!! And good luck, but mostly have a lot of fun!
Eleanor Lawrie, Author 