Last year I went to visit my sister in Tucson, AZ. I had never been to the desert before. My first hike was a solo trip into Saguaro National Park on the Sendero Esperanza trail. The terrain seemed extraterrestrial. I meandered from flora to fauna, paying close attention to this new world. I moved slow in the heat. I saw birds fly in and out of holes in giant cacti. Lizards sprinted across the trail. The ground was red, covered with beautiful, sharp rocks. Everything I passed had spikes on its ends. The sun was unavoidable. I enjoyed the desert very much!
Let it be forgotten, as a flower is forgotten, Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold, Let it be forgotten for ever and ever, Time is a kind friend, he will make us old. If anyone asks, say it was forgotten Long and long ago, As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall In a long forgotten snow.
Sara Trevor Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1884. She is the author of Love Songs (The Macmillan Company, 1917), winner of the Columbia University Poetry Society Prize (which later became the Pulitzer Prize for poetry) and the Poetry Society of America Prize. She died in 1933.
I came across some beautiful sections of a Maple tree lying next to the curb on my way home. I did not know the reason the tree was cut down. Looked like a healthy tree from the parts I examined. I decided to bring a few sections with me to help restore a new purpose to a life put out to pasture. Is a life worth more with years of experience and knowledge it has gained? Anyway, it sucks getting old, and this tree was old. I imagined what these limbs thought of as they lie on the curb next to each other
The adventures of Ava the Monster Slayer are set to continue this fall with the release of “Ava the Monster Slayer in Cousin Power”, published by Sky Pony Press and distributed through Simon & Schuster. For the sequel, Lisa and I decided to follow a comic book style format in hopes that Ava the Monster Slayer can be the gateway that leads young readers deeper into the realm of comic books! With the introduction of Ava’s cousin, Sophia, the girls share the horror and courage of taking their stuffed animals back from the scary woodland monsters that surround them while away at camp. This was another fun project to work on with Lisa! I hope you enjoy!
This will be my 3rd year creating a poster for Alchemy Audio’s upcoming event, Gear Swap, this April. They are a local Chicago company that builds, repairs, and modifies electric guitar pedals. Great people to work with and they have an incredible list of clients from Wilco to Lucinda Williams. Check them out at alchemy-audio.com
50″x50″. Acrylic on canvas. SOLD.*prints available upon request.
Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders: They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys. And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again. And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger. And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them: Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning. Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities; Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness, Bareheaded, Shoveling, Wrecking, Planning, Building, breaking, rebuilding, Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth, Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle, Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing! Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
-Carl Sandburg
Last year I went to visit my sister in Tucson, AZ. I had never been to the desert before. My first hike was a solo trip into Saguaro National Park on the Sendero Esperanza trail. The terrain seemed extraterrestrial. I meandered from flora to fauna, paying close attention to this new world. I moved slow in the heat. I saw birds fly in and out of holes in giant cacti. Lizards sprinted across the trail. The ground was red, covered with beautiful, sharp rocks. Everything I passed had spikes on its ends. The sun was unavoidable. I enjoyed the desert very much!
Ross Felten 