Here Among the Ruins

An ekphrastic poem based on the painting After the Storm by Silvia Drewery, on view at the Madison Art Society’s Annual Art Exhibit, August 2019.

Oh, sure, I could tell you
what I used to see when
I looked out the window
each morning —

……….that wide expanse of marsh
……….fertile green against blue sky
……….with its apt companion of clouds

……….the ebb and flow
……….and ebb and flow
……….of predictable tides

or what I admired then,
collected on shelves for posterity,
cultivated in my springtime

……….remember the flowers
……….remember the flowers
……….remember the flowers

But that’s all faded now,
the sure and bright palette
of what we thought we knew —

because seasons topple
and crash into each other,
bring storms of change

storms that demand more
than a cursory reach for familiar
than a hope and prayer for perfect

Oh, sure, I could tell you…
I could tell you all of that
or stride straight out of frame.