Media: Ink on Yupo

ABOUT THE SERIES

My partner, Qayyum Johnson, and I have been honoring the moon cycle since the summer of 2019. Each new moon and full moon Qayyum writes a poem and I create a painting. Sometimes Qayyum writes the poem and I make a painting in response to that. Sometimes the other way around. Sometimes we both create from the inspiration of the moon. 

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The poem that Qayyum wrote in response to this painting is below.

Candle Flame Moon

New Moon  October 14, 2023

Ritual comes unbidden to the blank.

There’s a small opening in the fortress

a clear spring, an oak, a swing

traces of pleasure without aim

just this particular body in this time

a moment ripe for awakening

so, the flickered moon.

Or a poppy’s papery petals.

Palo Santo traces by a bookshelf

stacked with words channeling ritual

their writing a ceremony you re-perform

in silence & with furrowed soul

here is traction for the journey

here is the next element.

Each leaf of bamboo is painted in a single stroke.

Or muddied upon reflection.

Moon of burning life. Moon of the un-stagnant.

Moon of the brave, the curious, the vulnerable

acters-out of new cultural moves who worship beauty

in the mountains & gardens & spirit radios.

Moon of mud. Moon of melt

& quarrelsome inner dialogue.

Moonlight on all of us—outshining

seducing intention, casting spells of renewal.

Each of us wanders eventually into uncharted range

& writes a text one can never erase, opens ourself.

The opening is to art, to creation, to love—

a feeling of never-again.

Now I can die happy.