Basal Ice

My photo, "Basal Ice," was chosen for a show at Art St. Louis running through June 30. Here is the artist statement that I put with the picture:







It’s all about change. This ice has been encased in the dark under tons of ice for hundreds of years, never been exposed to air before breaking off the base of the Tasman Glacier and floating to the surface. Now, its crystal clarity has snow-flake-shaped blemishes where air has infiltrated. Soon, it will be milk colored, opaque. Like life.

In Between the Colors

My baby blanket’s blue satin fringe is a pale
Remainder of sixty-five years ago.
The royal blue tassel from high school
Graduation has grayed.
Marian’s white wedding dress
Is ivory now, almost tan.

My eyes change, brown/then green/now blue
As they reflect
my wife’s hip-swaying walk
gray hairs in my son’s beard
grandchildren’s flushed faces
friends now gone
who shimmer like a mirage in my mind’s eye

the red and gold of sunset
just over the hill.