Wow, that was some cold spell in January! Now we sit in the soft grey of drizzling thaw while the roads reappear beneath sand and ice. It’s a good time to pull out the complete edition of Robert Frost’s poetry; being captured by “Birches” or “Brown’s Descent” lets the outside come in, from a metaphorical distance, and remind one of joys and challenges we have faced. Challenges speak to us from a variety of media; I just read Christina Baker Kline’s fictionalized account of Andrew Wyeth’s first muse, Christina Olson, who was gradually reduced to pulling herself on her elbows, through her house and across the field in Wyeth’s iconic painting. His colors speak of November…and February thaws. Check out books of his painting, or go online, and see for yourself.
Jamie Wyeth, he of JFK’s official portrait and Andrew’s son, paints with a full palette, in summer’s blues and intense yellows and in the mysterious oranges and reds of Halloween and pirates. Joy spills from the “Buoy Tree,” set on Monhegan Island in Maine, making one laugh in delight, much the way Mary Oliver’s poems do. In “Dog Songs,” she speaks of her dogs with laughter and tears; look up “The Poetry Teacher” and “Luke.” Seek out the different this time and go find the art and poetry in New England.