Writings 2010
I live in the red
I live in the black, in the light
I live in the colors that meet the sky
So much snow we were trapped for a while
Colors our respite
I wore red for my smile
Blue for my jeans
Yellow for the Harvest Moon
So long since we’ve seen it now
In primary school we started with red, yellow and blue
Mixed the paint with our fingers ‘til we made lots of goo
The primary colors thrive
Even when Summer dies
The gold of the Sun
We can hardly remember
Primary colors make all of the colors
When you mix them
Like light holds them all
Inside of its broad spectrum
The dark Winter’s night
Holds all of the colors
If you let it
We painted the buildings bright colors each Winter
We painted over all of their drab browns and grays
We have the means in the depth of Winter’s pall
To pull colors like threads around us like blankets
To pull together as the Sun is leaving
The Sun returns bit by bit each day
Even as we are grieving
So very hard to remember amidst Winter’s blahs
The flower petals – the glowing leaves of Summers past
The clearest sky -- how the trees just breathe
The blues and the greens
The red Canna’s juice
Skyjuice lightjuice breathjuice
Rejoicing as it fills us all
In return the Sun asks for nothing
But to Grow Grow Grow! And Tall!
The Sun is now returning with its Spring
Soon with the heat of Summer we will feel its sting
Hope that we will save our complaining
Celebrate our many blessings
Even now with global warming
We are pulling together
We are weaving colors
With our arms, with our fingers
Painting the sky with our dreams
Now the children are playing
Among the colors we made
As our elders are seeking the shade
We walk hand in hand
Thrilling in sultry warm Summers
Moment by moment
Blessed in the rare green glades
That somehow still remain
Planting trees, inviting the bees to kiss our flowers
Drumming up, strumming up the life within us
Adrenaline coursing again through our veins
Sowing seeds with DNA encoded in their darkness
From within a tiny sunflower seed’s dark insides
Somehow it know what to do
The flowers grow tall and bright
Somehow deep within our own darkness we do, too
In spite of the unknowns, somehow we know
That secret, the magic code of our souls
Unfolding reality out of our dreams
The colors knew all along
Birthed in the Sun’s spectrum
They know the color code
The mystery of growing our souls
All year long
3/30/10
Amy Jackson
written with muse Heather Schmaedeke's painting Primary HS
for Soul Revival: Artistic Expressions of Renewal
co-sponsored by Meroe Art Gallery & Authentic Contemporary Art
May 1 - August 1, 2010
Meroe Art Gallery
The West Baltimore Center for Urban Art