Waiting for the Right Metaphor...

Waiting - Image c Lynda Lehmann

One of my recent posts featured a photo of a chair, which I took as a metaphor with several possibilities. My readers offered their ideas on this, and Margaret Ryall subsequently did a post called The Chair in Art, on the subject of chairs as metaphors, that I thought was very interesting.

I think the consensus on the subject of an empty chair, is that the idea of abandonment fits quite well, regardless of any secondary meanings we might attribute to it.

You can read about the psychology of archetypes at Wikipedia. Joseph Campbell talked a lot about archetypes in his books, and so did Rollo May, a humanist psychologist whose books "Love and Will" and "The Courage to Create," I read in the 60s.

For me, the above photo connotes a feeling of waiting more than one of abandonment. The long line of slatted wood chairs makes a nice abstract pattern. Are the chairs waiting for sitters/occupants? Or perhaps for something else?

In future posts I'll feature images of other man-made objects that seem to lend themselves to the idea of metaphor. Apparently, we have many archetypes imbued in our collective subconscious, which manifest in our thoughts, creations, and dreams.

"Waiting" won a Special Recognition Award at Period Gallery.

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

A Prayer for One Humanity

MATRIX

by Lynda Lehmann

We are not strangers, walking on separate shores.

We are not strangers, toiling at tasks not akin.

We are not strangers, flowing from different founts.

We are not strangers, flailing weary against tempest's din.

We are not strangers, tossed on disparate streams.
We are not strangers, crossed by whim of dissimilar fates.
We are not strangers, called by night winds unmingled.
We are not strangers, molding edifice from unmixed clays.

We are not strangers, flinging stones into monolith waters.
We are not strangers, adrift in remote galaxies.

We are not strangers, wandering lands not primevally bound.
We are not strangers, sailing different-hued seas.

We are not strangers, plucking seed from alien pools.

We are not strangers, repelled, in polar descent.

We are not strangers,

pretentious, autonomous fools!

We are not strangers,

traversing Infinity's frame.

We are Cosmic Dust, crowned with stars,

One Silver Light....

warmed by the same Amber Flame.

Wishing everyone joy and peace at holiday time and always. We are One Humanity. See you in 2008!

The above image is "The Storm Breaks." Poem and image c Lynda Lehmann. All rights reserved.

Thoughts Brought on by Snowfall

I was looking for quotes from Romantic and Transcendental poets tonight, to go with my post of these snow photos, when the thought occurred to me to write my own. I had fun doing it, and I hope that in spite of my inexperience as a poet, these thoughts will resonate with you on some level.

*****

We are the matrix, Essence of One, whose face we know but look not on, enough to countervail our strife. It's men who fashion war from life.





Fluffy whiteness wraps the world, in expectation fresh and new--even as every sign of life, is covered by the winter's dew.




Made equal by the blowing drifts, all objects claimed by nature's shroud, fall back to states of innocence, wherein the world by winter's grasp, becomes a clean slate, waiting, new....

*****

Impartial sky shakes flakes of white, as minds shed hazy, unformed thoughts, into the pale, impartial night.

*****

Children flourish in the play, the snow has brought into their day. Seeing hills and trees and sky with eyes that shine with wondering "why?"





Quiescent places, frozen yes, but ready to spring at life's behest--to action, bloom, fresh hue, and scent. Life spins emergent, not yet spent.

*****

All images and text c 2007 by Lynda Lehmann. All rights reserved.


The above photos, top to bottom, are "Matrix," "Winterbloom," "Drifts and Shadows," and "Shadow Reach," and are available for purchase at www.lyndalehmann.com .