Today is the opening of the ‘Chromantics’ art exhibit at the OVADA Gallery. As a tribute to that, and as a way to celebrate the opening in the only way I can from such a distance, here’s the poem on color I wrote and that Mr. Watkins was kind enough to select for display. If you’re lucky enough to be in Oxford right now, by all means check out this show. It’s open until April 28, so there’s still time.
ColorBleed
By Alan Bennett Ilagan
From the very first time
He saw a box of crayons
Spilling their treasure across a tabletop
He knew they would hold his heart
And save his life.
Abundance of riches,
These limitless hues,
They gave happiness to all
Without explanation or reason
Inspiring wonder
With their primal evocation.
Give me your pigments,
Your shades
Your saturation.
Show me how you subtly shift
Between scarlet and cinnabar
The delicate gradations from sky to powder
Blue.
Ember rust
All your glorious gradations
Hombre undulations.
Pathway to expression
Relief and release
In every prismatic shard
This is light,
This is life
Swirled into water
Ground into dust
Imbued into oil
Elemental and fine.
Color bleeds our passions
When our voices and words
Are rendered silent,
When our sounds and songs
Become quiet
When our fingers and hands
Can no longer feel
Color allows the heart to speak
Allows the mind to reveal
Striking at the very heart of darkness
Obliterating the indistinct
Telling our story when the world
Seems hellbent on stopping us.
Color finds the way.
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