Red Riding Hood
22.75 x 15"
Oil Ink Monotype on Paper
Coming Home
Because last night as we drove home we talked
to keep my husband's eyes from glazing at the wheel,
because when we arrived the air inside
was washed with fresh cooked applesauce
from apples growing in our orchard —
Because of the lesson the monk taught
about the fifth perfection: concentration, harmony,
stability, and my studio looks as if my mind
has spilled onto the floor, I woke today, intention to begin
to scoop up the pieces. I brewed coffee and noted the sky
is overflowing, violet in the angle of the sun.
Swaying trees are turning toward the changing season,
leaves will soon be crunching underfoot.
Everything I think I know
in this new moment becomes a need to write:
my go-to temporary relief from angst —
Because of all this
I grant myself another chance to practice till I get
the fifth perfection right and move on to the sixth —
but first I stare
into the refrigerator
and fix myself
a bowl of homemade applesauce.
- Rosalind Brenner
Detail
Red Riding Hood
22.75 x 15"
Oil Ink Monotype on Paper