Acrobats in the Freezing Wind

I have gone again and again to this post about feathers, on Art Propelled.

Robyn Gordon has such a magnificent eye, from my perspective. I am in love with how she chooses a theme, then finds different artists’ works to illustrate the feelings/ideas she wants to express. None of her work is featured in this post, but it is well worth exploring. She could have added June’s Angel to the mix . . .

 

June's Angel ~ by Robyn Gordon

 

or Broken Angels.

 

Broken Angels ~ by Robyn Gordon

 

And that POEM!!!! I read Mary’s poetry often, when my emotions feel stuck and need a nudge to flow again. Oliver expresses longing in a way that clutches your soul and propels you out of your darkness into the light.

Starlings in Winter

by Mary Oliver

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly

they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,

dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,

then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can’t imagine

how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,

this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;

I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Robyn is truly one of those acrobats in the freezing wind, by which I mean that she propels herself into issues that others would freeze in the face of, and uses them to inspire herself. This is apparent in her gorgeous, carved art. That line about being” improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing” seems appropriate both for her, and the art that flows from her.

Here are a couple more of my favorites. They happen to be paintings, of which I hope she does many more. They are both stories on canvas, and the colours are dazzling.

 

Undercurrents ~ watercolour and oil pastels, by Robyn Gordon

 

 

Removing the Snake From Eden ~ by Robyn Gordon