"sorceress who left too soon"

Remedios Varo - Shadow Man, 1963

Remedios Varo - Shadow Man, 1963

Today's art is from Remedios Varo (1908 - 1963), a Spanish painter in the surrealist mode who worked in Spain, France and, finally Mexico. She had many influences, artistic and philosophical, including, as one might guess from this piece, Carl Jung. Upon her death from a heart attack at 54, the writer, André Breton, described her as "the sorceress who left too soon."


shadow walker

at times 
we fall flat 
trip dive 
knocked down
and our shadow 
attending
sees seizes 
the chance  
jostles itself upright
dons a new 
dimension 
and proceeds to greet 
the world
with a jaunty stride
an eager embrace

and we
small now 
are left behind
to draw or pull aside 
the curtain 
witness in grief 
the steam 
rolling 
of a greater 
weaker being 

our excuse
that which abides
something 
of ourselves 
we love 
however cold 
and grey 
however averse 
it may be 
to any flame
granted
any offered 
grace 

thus released
it presents itself 
with aplomb
and will always attempt 
to shake your hand
and not let go