NEW POEMS

PIGMENTS

Renaissance sky
of grey,
pale blue and yellow—
scattered clouds
of fair delight
and sun shyly
warms up the day.

Reminiscing eras
only witnessed
through recorded art—
a painter looked up
and saw
what I present see—
a stroke of paint,
pigments pale
that cover
time and space.


Claudia Lowery
December 14, 2008






TWO OBSERVING

Soars the bird
above a gray walk
and cold earth—
bound not and free
it looks down
at me—
a fixed object
of question and wonder
as I look up
and ponder
how rising upward feels.


Claudia Lowery
December 16, 2008

INCONSTANT MOON

I've tried and tried...and failed and failed....at taking a good photograph of a full moon. I need a class, an expert, a mentor to tell me where I'm going wrong. In the meantime I capture a moment of something otherwise interesting...the intensity of its brightness over I-20, the streaks of car lights, the warm glow of an approaching headlight on the road. Maybe there are better things than a perfect photo of a perfectly round moon...maybe there's a moment in time when it's just God and me looking at His creation, enjoying the beauty and wonder of it all. Maybe He doesn't want me to capture it like some wild creature that needs to struggle free. Maybe He wants to keep it fresh each and every time.
I have friends who are also taken by the captivating beauty of the moon. It fascinates me to know that even in my private moment with God, others around the world are also looking up and then inward as we are all pulled by unseen forces toward a beckoning Creator.
Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" has a famous scene...Act Two, Scene Two, where the two star-crossed lovers are declaring their love from a balcony. As Juliet asks Romeo for a promise of his eternal love, he says....

ROMEO
Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops--

JULIET
O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

ROMEO
What shall I swear by?

JULIET
Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.

O, how exciting is new love as these two covenant with one another to love forever. Even Juliet knew that the moon waxes and wanes in its monthly orbit. She wanted Romeo's love to never wax or wane....and isn't that what we all want?

DECEMBER SKY

Small white crescent moon upper left corner.


Jet with contrails enters the scene.

Moon more visible now with jet contrails.

God's bounty...too much to behold...breathtaking!

Photos by Claudia Lowery December 2008

Recently I worked late and this was what greeted me as I came outside. Difficult to see, the crescent moon is in the upper left, but even more amazing is the fact that I could also see Venus and Jupiter just to the right of the moon. Unfortunately, my little camara just couldn't do the job. Then, a jet with contrails flew by and I just snapped and snapped photos as fast as possible....well, you just had to be there.