Ed Werner's Off the Wall Sculpture Show
OFF THE WALL ... Ed Werner was one of the first folks I met in Telluride. In fact, I held my first poetry reading in Telluride while house-sitting his and Lisa's rental in town on North Spruce Street. And later the old Telluride Writer's Guild put on a gala poetry event in Fall Creek at his home there ...
But he moved to Ridgway when he and Lisa split up and has been living there for the last couple decades ... His sculptures have always been challenging pieces -- well made but full of irony and sometimes dark energies...
His recent show at the Trace Gallery in Ridgway was no different. Less new pieces and more things he's pulled from his collection of pieces he's had in storage for many years. But nevertheless impressive.
I've always loved his work for his critique of American culture and his precision fabrication skills. For many years he did fine carpentry in Telluride and the region from his workshop in Fall Creek. More photos from his show appear at the end of this column.
CHILE VOTES NO ... Itki was a sad day for progressives in Chile as the country overwhelmingly voted down a new Constitution to replace the one crafted by the dictator Gen. Pinochet and, unfortunately, still now in effect after this election. Read what the Guardian of Britain had to say about itki HERE.
QUOTABLE ... "My favorite definition of poetry has always been from Ezra Pound: 'language charged with meaning.' slightly repurposed from ABC of Reading; packing twice, maybe ten times as much into as many words as the party smalltalk line. A poet might use tropes and allusions to accomplish this, but ultimately the most powerful tool they can use is the musical sound of the words themselves" ... By Colorado poet Uche Ogbuji, from his newsletter, Loomiverse
TALKING GOURD ... Found this lovely poem online at Silver Birch Press’s “How To Heal the Earth” series. Mistakes are how we learn and Mary McCarthy does both in a most moving way. We had a passionflower vine at one of the houses I lived at as a youth. It is a stunningly beautiful plant. Find out more about Silver Birch Press HERE.
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| Gulf Fritillary on Passionflowers (Photo by Gwillhickers). |
MY MISTAKE
When an army of hungry
orange and black caterpillars
stripped bare half
my passion flower vine
almost overnight
I saw nothing but
their ravenous appetite
their warning armor
of black spikes.
I pulled them off
one by one
the way I would pluck
big green hornworms
from my tomato plants,
and crush them with
a booted foot.
Too late I learned
these were the larva
of the Gulf Fritillary
butterfly, a beauty,
and passion flower vine
not merely its favorite
but its only host.
How could I refuse them
their necessary food
after planting milkweed
for the monarchs,
shunning pesticides
and fertilizers,
learning to love
those humble plants
whose virtues go unnoticed
because they are not showy?
I had no excuse
for extermination,
doubly wrong
because even this hungry army
can only curb, not end
the rampant growth
of its chosen host
limiting its kudzu ambitions
enough to allow recovery–
While my murderous efficiency
could upset the essential
balance, worm and vine,
lives so absolutely
intertwined.
Mary McCarthy is a retired Registered Nurse who has always been a writer. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies, most recently in The Plague Papers, edited by Robbi Nester, The Ekphrastic World, edited by Lorette Luzajic, the latest issue of Earth’s Daughters and Third Wednesday. She has been a Best of the Net and a Pushcart nominee. Her digital chapbook is available as a free download from Praxis magazine.
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| Meredith Nemirov facing camera and her artist partner Jorge Roberto Anchondo on the far right were among the many attendees at the Trace Gallery for Ed Werner's show during Ridgway's First Friday Art Walk. |
