Floyd artist Lora Geissler (pictured above with two of her paintings) asked members of the Floyd Writers Circle to put a poetic voice to her recent body of work. At a Show Opening at the Café del Sol on Sunday, Mara Robbins, Rosemary Wyman and myself performed some of the poetry that resulted from her request. Although we knew the literal subject of many Lora’s painting was an old rusty sink abandoned on a beach in Maine, her zoomed in artist’s eye and sensibility transformed the ordinary into archetypal landscapes that lent themselves to personal interpretation and to the stirring of poetry.

Rosemary read her poem “Convergence,” titled for the painting of the same name. Behind milky scrim … shadowy limbs collect … ready to present. Indistinct faces press … anxious to peer … through the caul.

Mara’s poem of the same name, written for the same painting, began with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.” It read in part … Howl in the background, falling … ribbon, shells, signs. Birchbark … peeling out of sight, last night … when the stars … were stars, your fingers … This frame. The poem she’s reading in the above shot is titled “Cave of Disembodied Legs” and goes with the picture on her left, titled “Within.”

My little sips of haiku-inspired verse inviting the listener to slip in-between worlds were of moon and sun as star crossed lovers, a well, a skull, a kiss. A woman’s capacity … Love echoes far … I see myself … I see myself … I see. And Loyal companion … Fixed gaze … Death shows life … The way.

Lora was the 2008 winner of the Staunton Art in the Park Best in Show, winning a ribbon and a $1,000 prize, along with a solo exhibit at the Staunton Augusta Art Center, which took place this past spring. In an article for The Floyd Press about that exhibit Rosemary described Lora’s work as embodying … a silent generosity – a palpable quality of meditative introspection and reverence … She writes, … For Lora Leigh whole landscapes are to be found where sun bleached New England granite ledge has split apart to produce a deep inky crevice, or where Pacific tides and winds constantly erode sandstone cliffs unearthing prehistoric looking egg-shaped boulders. You can check out Lora’s website HERE.

~ Colleen Redman is a writer from Floyd who blogs daily at looseleafnotes.com