Week 3: Harmony
Year 2021. What does it mean to you? To Addie and I, it is full of hope and promise. It is a turning point. The beginning of the end of a pandemic. The end of a volatile presidency and a return to sensible governance. The end of quarantines, isolation, and social distancing and a return to physical human interaction. We will once again congregate, gather with those we love, see them up close, touch and feel again … not in an impersonal virtual space, but in the very real and beautiful world.
We want to celebrate 2021 with an outpouring of creativity and optimism!
Each week, we’ll choose a theme upon which to write and paint. We have many exciting topics to explore, and we are excited to share our work.
So, without further ado, let’s begin the adventure of this new year!
WEEK THREE
The third theme for the new year is harmony.
While with an eye made quiet by the power
William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
ADDIE’S PAINTING
Carpe Noctem – Vice Versa
MY POEM
The Book of Crows
As I walk within this corpse of seasons, I gaze onto the tops of the trees. I see the crows in the thousands dim-lit against the darkening blue canvas.
Such a symphony of sound! It fills my ears, my head, my heaving lungs. It seeps down into my legs and fills my feet like two crystal goblets.
My hands, too, are filled with their wine.
And my body is their vessel, and their song is my holy book. And its words will keep me alive.
They tell me to breathe. One breath at a time.
Slow. The racing mind never wins.
Focused. Frayed thoughts unravel.
With intent. A calm mind is like a fish that eschews the barbed bait.
Breathe.
Harmony. The soul within breathes within the Soul without.
I open the Book of Crows.
It tells me to walk without shame, malice, and resentment.
To be yourself and to become yourself.
That transformation begins within, and it is seen from without by its effect.
And that we all have our masters.
And that the less of life we have, the more fearfully we clutch to it, like an infant to its mother.
And that you can learn from others how not to live and still love them.
And that your soul is a flower among a field of flowers.
And that Spring will blossom, only you must wait for it.
Be patient. Not every word is poured from the flask in an instant.
Be kind. A gentle touch softens an often harsh world.
ABOUT THE PAINTING & POETRY PROJECT
We’ve selected 52 themes (one theme per week for the year), and each week for 2021, I will write a poem and Addie will paint a painting inspired by that theme.
Expect an outpouring of creative energy! This is the sort of big project that artists live for … where we can say what we yearn to say. Big picture stuff. Heart wrenching stuff. Expect surprises, love, and a passion for life.
Check Out Addie’s Instagram Account: www.instagram.com/alchemy.of.art.addie.hirschten/
Check out Addie’s art studio — Studio Alchemy:
studioalchemy.art/
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