Look (from Art Speaks/Mortenson-Davis Gallery on Aug 4, 2023, from her painting pg. 101 of the 2023 WFOP Cal.)

Look

            After “Wind” acrylic painting by Ethel Mortenson Davis

 

Can you see Wind Woman

throned on her cloud?

In June, she breathes life into plants

pushes waves on the ocean

ripples inland lakes.

Come July, she will tease a breeze

across your arm with a welcome chill

on a swelter-sweat day.

Listen —you can hear her

smooth-talk the pines

chatter the Aspens.

After an August afternoon rain

there’s pavement perfume

and that sweet, summer-fresh air.

Watch how she purses her lips

oh so slightly, to release muted

sky-breath the moment after

a dahlia sun descends into night.

Wind Woman readies us for quiet

her half-closed eye pauses for sleep

even the black line of her brow

points toward night and rest

from labors of the day.