Transitions

A collaboration between Artist Wendy Wischer and Poet Katharine Coles that creates transitions in the Expressions of Loss and Hope program for Artivism for Earth.

Only the Wind is a piece in 9 parts. A visual and linguistic poem titled with a phrase that suggests both threat and comfort, it circulates through the presentations and performances of Artivism4Earth, Expressions of Loss and Hope. Weaving a whisper with the dancing of trees, this piece invokes the wind that continuously circulates the planet, carrying with it successive seasons and both the gifts and devastations of weather.

Only the Wind

First, the one I was born into, which
I must invent, its brimming
Light and thunder. Then the one I escaped

The other for, fast skies and streets
Sluicing rainwater; and the next,
Which filled with glass. The truth is

I can’t remember, not those
I lived in or those I visited, pacing face
Along their rivers, not really. There

Fly the leaves from – what tree? – the maple,
The olive. Winter lasts longer now
And so does summer. They come

Again, the leaves, so soon my head bursts
Open with them. The wind also
Returns, the famous relentless one that travels

All the way round– up high I can feel
How it cleanses and carries away
And brings everything back, even

The trees. I won’t say it flies,
A tree that big, but I have seen trees
Fly. If I hadn’t, wouldn’t I remember?

Collaborators: Katharine Coles, Wendy Wischer