She Had Remembered. She Had Returned
Did Anna grow crimson geraniums on her windowsills in winter?
Did Karen brighten the long days of darkness with colorful embroidery and careful drawnwork?
Did Dortea ever long to spread her wings and return to the land of her birth to live a quiet life?
And when they were children in Norway as I once was,
Did they play in the woods and make crowns of wildflowers?
Did they draw maps of magical lands on the tissue-thin bark of birch trees?
Did they dream of lavender moons or of windows that gave glimpses into the distant past?
Did they wish upon falling stars reflected in the fjords or bathe by the light of the midnight sun?
I feel them around me, my great-grandmothers and my grandmother
Who never held me in life but who hold me now.
Who never held me in life but who hold me now.
They answer my questions without words.
They help me remember.
They help me return.
They inspire me to continue to make memories
Knowing that these are the poems of our souls
That allow each day to linger
In the twilight of our lives.
***
The work in this exhibition had its genesis in the three years I lived in Norway as a child, and in my recent return after a 53 year absence. Visiting as an adult prompted questions about the women on my father’s side of the family who had emigrated to the United States in the mid-to-late 1800s, questions which I reflected on in this work. I owe much to their legacy and dedicate this work to their memory, and memories, with gratitude and love.
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May do some tweaking here and there, but this is pretty much what I'll submit.
Cheers,
Karen Anne
Cheers,
Karen Anne
Fabulous!!! I love the ideas that abound in the continuance of life - the connections we all hold to the past and those who have led the way for us.
ReplyDeletethank you! doing this work has been a wonderful experience; easier to do the work than write about, though. its a relief to have the statement written!
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