Discoveries

 Today on my walk, I came across a small booklet entitled, "Juan Romero, Original Serigraphs and Lithographs in Limited Editions".  The back of the booklet reads, "Perspective Etablissement, Kirchstrasse 1, 9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein".  I was not familiar with this artist, but the six serigraphs depicted are full of color,  movement, and wondrous creatures.  I am attaching a copy of "Inhabited Tree (1980)" to give you a taste. 

In exchange for this treasure found in one of our Little Free Libraries, I was thinking of replacing it with a book of poetry given to me years ago. Most of the poems in this volume have never really intrigued me.  However, as I peruse it this morning, I am wondering if some of the verses could be used in collages. That would probably mean cutting up the book, something I have never been able to bring myself to do.  As I ponder my next move in this relationship,  I leave you with the poem, "Eternal Father, We Were Locked up in You"  by Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), translated by Willis Barnstone.  I think the three powers she refers to are love, intellect, and will, but I also think that may be  a profound oversimplification, if not completely wrong.  Regardless, I love the last two lines of this poem. 

     

Eternal Father, we were locked up in you, 

in the garden under your ribs. 

You drew us out of your holy mind 

like a flower petaled with our soul's three powers, 

and you planted the whole  plant 

in each power 

so the plant might bear fruit in your garden, 

might go to you with the fruit 

you generated in her. 

And you would come back to the soul

to fill her with bliss and holiness. 

There the soul makes her home 

like the fish in the sea 

and the sea in the fish.