Editor’s note: The works of this artist-and-writer pair are from our annual Art of Words exhibit, which was on view in the gallery of Follow Your Art Community Studios during October 2024. For this collaborative exhibit, FYACS writers and artists exchanged words and art, prompting each other to respond with something new.
“With the Lake”
Prompt
by Laura Speare
It’s like silver
Like shimmering glass
Like coming home
It’s memory lapping memory
An invitation
A reconnection
A long, slow exhale
Carved by glacier
warmed by summer sun
Its cool waters cradle me
as far above a cloud morphs
from dragon to pooch
And alongside
a solitary loon
surfaces, glides
dives
Response
by Charlie Kelly
“Through the Willow”
Prompt
by Charlie Kelly
Response
by Laura Speare
You can find me
under Grandma’s willow
hugging my knees
ridged bark against my back
Pausing in the permanence
The river winding its way
through the centuries
Marking the changes
Golden leaves where once
blossoms floated
A towering maple
where once a sapling dared to sprout
A child spinning, dancing
where now I sit
cradling my memories
Yes, you could find me
under Grandma’s willow
But please
Just let me gaze a while longer
through this cascade of branches
at the play of sunlight
on constant flowing blue
Laura Speare is writer-in-residence member of The Writers Studio at FYACS. Her love for children’s literature began with her grandmother, Elizabeth George Speare, author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond. After years living near Washington, DC, and San Francisco, Laura finds herself raising her daughter in her Grandma’s beloved hometown of Melrose. Laura’s first career focused on writing about water quality and sustainability. Now she works as a technical writer for software. She’s currently querying agents for her first YA fantasy novel and working on her next one.
Charlie Kelly is an artist-in-residence at FYACS.
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