The Day the Plein Air Painting

class met it was hot,

exuberant, after months

of gray. I turned left

at the Jesus is Lord sign

and met six women,

at the Jesus is Lord beach.

Vermilion, orchre, cerulean blue,

the colors were all out that day,

and we learned to create

the palest wash, search the horizon

for light and shadow.

We painted on the muddy banks

of Chimacum creek, while heron

kept watch and eagles circled.

And we worked all afternoon

until the tide filled the creek

to overflowing.

Then we stripped off our clothes

and entered the water undefined

left the shadows of the trees

to become the light

in our very own landscape.

Gayle Kaune

First published in All the Birds Awake, Tebot Bach.

Gayle Kaune is widely published in literary magazines. Her chapbooks include, Concentric Circles, winner of the Flume Press Award and N’Sid-Sen-Star. Her books are Still Life in the Physical World, published by Blue Begonia Press and her latest, All the Birds Awake published by Tebot Bach. She lives in Port Townsend with her husband and a ghost dog. She paints occasionally, when she gets up the courage.