The Poetry of a Shadow

(c) Karin Jurik

I have written in the past about shadows. But my posts have been very prosaic, especially compared with this beautiful poem. 

If you don't know Wells Mason and Ironwood Industries, you should. Wells creates art, disguised as furniture (my words). His creations are like form and creativity taking wing together.   The Umasi chair shown below is just one example. 

Umasi Chair VIII, Ironwood Industries

Wells recently posted this poem, a gift to him from another artist, Kirk Wilson. I thought it was so beautiful that it deserved to be shared further. And the concepts apply to painting as well as to other plastic arts. I italicized my favorite couplet. Enjoy!

Form and Shadow

For Wells Mason

The form and the shadow

     are form

When the shadow disappears

     it is implicit in the form

Without the shadow the form

     is barren it imagines nothing

When the shadow reappears

     the form and the shadow are shadow

The nature of the shadow

     is the inverse of the nature of the form

The echo of the form

     is the voice of the shadow

The shadow is the form's wing

     The form is the shadow's foot

The form breathes the shadow

     The shadow dreams the form

The form's disappearance

     is implicit in the shadow

Without the form the shadow

     is lost it wanders going nowhere

When the form reappears

     the form and the shadow are form

By Kirk Wilson

2007