Lakeside

My youngest son, a few years back, lakeside in North Carolina.  Preliminary study - I'd like to paint this scene. 

Hold Tight

There is something so endearing
about my little boy's silhouette,
delicate neck above narrow shoulders
and waist dwarfed by shorts
that flood past knees
and shade bare, dirt-dusted feet.

Last vestigates of pudginess
cling to lengthening limbs,
which increasingly take him far
from my protective reach.

The lake is deep, tree roots
snake in and out along the steep bank.
I warn him to watch his step,
"I will, Mom"; try not to hover
yet it's second nature.  Sees me coming,
he runs, I shout, he laughs.

The darkness of the water scares me,
of course, he's oblivious,
fascinated as he is looking for turtles,
fish, dragonflies, and such.

Notice Mother Duck's having trouble
keeping her own swiftly growing chicks inline;
my mind scampers to my other five
(check text messages, see if they need me)
call my youngest to me, spread out blanket,
hold tight to this moment, this little boy.

by Margaret Bednar, January 7, 2020

Calla Lilly - Saturated Color

This was a daily sketch using colored pencils (which I have no skill :) but the idea was "color" so I saturated the page. 

Calla Lilly

Enchantment comes my way
as I walk the garden path,
a kind of whimsy, flushed pink,
extends an invitation

to slide, spiral, and spin
into a world of purity. 

by Margaret Bednar (excerpt from a poem written in 2013)  I like this version better! 

Acrylic painting Adirondack Chair

Acrylic Painting by Margaret Bednar

Still a bit reserved on my details as shadows and such could be more developed, I know, but I want to stop before I mess it up.  I'll make a second one after the vacation... hopefully lounging in a scene such as this!

Kissed

Pink painted toes sink into buttercream sand,
white paint flakes from Adirondack
as ocean's sapphire sweeps my skin.

Swear I'm living within a sonnet,
a poem lovely as a first kiss.

by Margaret Bednar, August 9, 2018


The line "a poem lovely as" was our departure point from Joyce Kilmer's "Trees".

Acrylic Garden Rabbit Painting

Acrylic Painting by Margaret Bednar

and a poem to go with it...

Languid

Bees like amber drops roll in the petals,
their buzz industrious, not threatening,
my childhood phobia placated.
(I avoided flowers, tiptoed through dandelion patches
afraid of being stung)

Perhaps it's the Adirondack chair
and the sun, both slanted just so
as to make movement nigh impossible
(like the stone bunny next to me).

Mid-summer I'm supine, moony;
observe crows at forest edge,
breath in fresh-cut grass,
distant whir of mower a lullaby,

content to cloud watch,
thoughts a shape-shifting mirage.
Perhaps it's part dehydration,
swear I'm floating on angel wings,
weightless, prayer frivolous
as I childishly plea summer never end...

and the bees drone on.

By Margaret Bednar, August 8, 2018


The first line is from The Roses a poem featured in American Primitive - poems by Mary Oliver 

Sand Castle Garnishes

and a poem to go with it:

Beachside

I shake out the quilt, flip flops anchor corners,
and I'm beached for remainder of day;
cry of seagulls and sun upon my eyelids
an aphrodisiac I'm far too weak to fight.

May drag myself to water's edge mid-afternoon,
dip my toes, but full immersion's usually reserved for August.

Frolicking, chilly surf fazes not my children,
their chatter weaving in and out of my reverie
as they fill in, fill up pail after pail with water
for castle moat until the very ocean threatens their creation;

even I, sun-drenched drunk, sigh deeply, heave myself up,
move our sandy outpost out of harms way,

glad life guards scan horizon and shoreline
for far more serious danger,
watch as seagull and shell garnishes are devoured
by ocean's surge and my children laugh it off,

run past my oasis, shroud me with sand.
I suppose my penance for being lazy.

by Margaret Bednar, July 31, 2018