After the Tucson summer rains would fill the arroyos around our house when I was young and the water would disappear as quickly as it came, I would walk along the damp, smooth sand searching for sand rubies. I would collect the small, dark red stones in a white handkerchief and bring them home to show my mother. I would unfold the cloth and lay it flat on the kitchen table, the rubies glistening and dancing against the white material like so many red birds.
This was my first successful painting. It is based on a poem of mine.
ReplyDeleteThe Hermit
I catch fish
with my bare hands
just to stare
into their eyes.
I have not spoken for months.