I am standing by my
easel en plein air
right here on Main
usually there is a group of us down by the inlet
but I don’t see any of those
“No painting from life” signs
the source of the trepidation is:
am I getting things right?
am I exploiting their pain?
is this a justification for art?
solitary figure under street lamp
go blank
dark light to draw the figure
Nardy Pest Control
Yardley & Pino Funeral Home
Valhalla is where everybody who is anybody’s going
the L.I.E. is one those conversations that goes on forever
You’re all
over town
without spreading yourself thin
or being unfaithful
and the ripples of the current,
Swann’s Way on Circle Beach
always the mad honking
flocks of geese over Georgica Pond
country cousin of herds of yellow cabs
I started in the sad light
when everyone was still sleeping
the houses were
tombstones in my mind
shadow dancing is what I call these kinds of strokes it’s nothing new
for me
I could have just taken a shot with my cell
but it’s not the same
it’s complex
I’m the town crier
he finally died is where my art begins
but it’s a tale of estrangement, and love
this one loved him
that one not
then there’ll be the church
I won’t be able to paint the service
and how this one was or was not talking
to whom
Francis Levy is a Wainscott resident. “En Plein Air” is part of a recently completed poetry collection, “The Unavoidable Imminence of the Inexplicable.”