Back in February, PleinAir Today reported on two shows that were joining poetry with plein air painting. The “En Plein Air” show at the Cornell Museum of Art in Delray Beach, Florida, was the focus of a poetry contest at the 11th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. We can now present the winning poem, and the painting that inspired it.
Lynne Knight won the top prize in the poetry contest, and her inspiration was Chris Kling‘s painting “Misty Waters.” Poet Stephen Gibson was the judge, and he chose Knight’s poem “Another Version of the Many Ways He Left Me” from 109 entries. Contestants were asked to view the show at the Cornell Museum of Art and write from one of the pieces in a form of poetry known as ekphrasis. Kling says she was thrilled that her painting proved inspirational, and she feels his piece is indeed evocative.
“The paintings that were offered up for the Plein Air Poetry Contest were the award winners of the ‘En Plein Air’ exhibition,” she explains. “‘Misty Waters’ received an Honorable Mention in the show. Last May, when I painted this plein air piece, I had arrived at Riverbend Park just after dawn to capture the first light coming over the trees, before the sun burned off the morning mist over the water. Mist is ephemeral and gives a setting a feel of fleeting mystery, and I am happy that Lynne felt it too. The ironic thing is, as I was painting this, my cell phone rang and I received word that my father was dying. Because of that, I have a feeling of loss attached to this painting, and Lynne wrote about loss too — of another kind. Lynne, of course, did not know this, but she wrote, ‘Someone’s always leaving, always coming back’ … ‘The sound of his voice vanished in the heavy morning air, the boat already gone.’ So I connect with her poem as she connected with my painting. Because of that experience, and because it is such a beautiful setting that I loved, I felt the need to paint this scene on a larger scale. So later I painted a 30″-x-40″ oil from the inspiration of this plein air. That 30″ x 40″ just won Best of Show in the Lighthouse ArtCenter Members Show last week, so I think a lot of people can feel the emotion in these paintings. That’s the whole point, isn’t it, to communicate your thoughts and feeling through your art? It was a beautiful symbiosis of two forms of art, poetry and painting.”
“I am so delighted and honored that my painting was an inspiration for such a beautiful poem,” says Kling. “And it is icing on the cake that Lynne Knight’s poem won First Place. I will attach it to the back of the painting so it will always be with it.”
Here’s the award-winning poem, which was inspired by Kling’s painting:
Another Version of the Many Ways He Left Me
after Chris Kling’s Misty Waters at Riverbend
by Lynne Knight
He was out there somewhere.
Lost in mist and fog, in moss and tangle.
I called and called.
Someone’s always leaving, always coming back.
Lost in mist and fog, in moss and tangle,
I saw the boat a thousand times.
Someone’s always leaving, always coming back.
I’m not talking suicide.
I saw the boat a thousand times,
slipping away from the dock, the oars like gulls, flashing.
I’m not talking suicide.
He said nothing, like someone who’d lost his language.
Slipping away from the dock, the oars like gulls, flashing,
the river like a road into nowhere,
he said nothing, like someone who’d lost his language
suddenly, in the middle of a confession.
The river like a road into nowhere
I could easily reach,
suddenly — in the middle of a confession? —
the sound of his voice vanished in the heavy morning air.
I could easily reach
one conclusion: he longed not to be seen again.
The sound of his voice vanished in the heavy morning air,
the boat already gone.
One conclusion: he longed not to be seen. Again
I called and called,
the boat already gone.
He was out there. Somewhere.
