Posts Tagged ‘clothesline’
washday
A few years ago, we took a vacation to les Îles de la Madeleines, also known as the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and part of the Province of Quebec. We loved the ferry rides to and from the Islands, the endless white sand beaches, the artisans, and the demonstrations of wind sailing. Most of all, I loved the colourful houses. I always planned to try to capture the beaches and those houses in a painting. I finally completed my tryptic called ‘washday #1’, ‘washday #2’ and ‘washday #3’.
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June 9, 2015 ‘washday#1’ Jane Tims
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June 9, 2015 ‘washday#2’ Jane Tims
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June 9, 2015 ‘washday#3’ Jane Tims
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And the three together:
June 9, 2015 ‘washday’ Jane Tims
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
watching the wind
The wind fills empty air space with movement and sound. When the wind blows, the void above us suddenly has form and power and dimensionality. It can lift a kite. It can steal a balloon. It can fill the air with dandelion fluff. It can convince you a seagull lives to soar.
My favourite way to ‘see’ the wind is to watch clothes drying on a line. Colourful towels, flowered table cloths, patterned pyjamas, and white cotton underwear. They sway together and lift as the wind catches them. Surely the whole line will sail away.
Do you have a clothesline and do you hang out your bedding to dry?
a clothesline in the countryside
Hanging out bedding to dry
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by the last acre
of oat field
grown golden in the sun
and wind
~
wet sheets billow
up
up and outward
the long husks of the grainheads
sigh like pebbles
sorted by the sea
~
pillowcases
pegged to a blue horizon
tug at the line
cedar masts are set
firm in the island till
~
quilts and coverlets
spinnaker and mizzen
carry me
over the wind-washed
waves of grain
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Published as: ‘hanging bedding to dry’, Summer 1995, The Amethyst Review 3(2)
© Jane Tims
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