An Artist's Life
- a poem at river's edge
An artist’s life is what I live
my palette full of choice
each new dawn a clean new canvas
gifts a space for voice.
I paint myself today
moving along stream’s edge
at first chaotic
falling twice
then finally sitting still.
Now I remember how to be
with the flow
letting go
not needing to know.
I paint stone firm beneath
water soft with light
So hard to fathom
how it can be
that rock would give up its might
Polished it is chuting torrent through
while eddies hold and rest
with inhale and exhale I sit in awe
my mind no longer stressed.
The longer I sit in my experience
the clearer things seem to be
moving brush from palette to stroke
details are soon set free.
I paint cascades
in different shades
from white to grey and dark
and down below on blackened rock
a rainbow leaves its mark.
All around the chaotic flow
amidst the churn and violence
lays such beauty
so intricate in form -
natures symphony.
Ledges catch
crevices drip
water pounds around me
in perfect unison
all at once
what a sight to see.
Yet with hesitant hand
the brush slows down
caught in an eddy of doubt
for how can I capture
all there is to create?
a voice within cries out.
…answers elude me
yet this place consoles,
carrying me on downstream.
Matt Zavadil
3/17/2013
at the edge of Dodd Creek
Authors note: This is one from my archives that I wrote almost 12 years ago. I didn’t know poetry spoke through me, but that day I sat at the edge of Dodd Creek it revealed itself as the present moment took me within. It’s fun to go back and find these gems in my files. How revealing it is of the journey I’ve traveled thus far.