County Girls

 So, some stuff has been happening. I was invited a while back to contribute work to an exhibition called Vera, to be held on the campus of the University where I teach (you know, not where I teach, since I teach in North Carolina, but I teach for the University of Maine...oh, complicated internet life...), organized by artist/art prof Heather Sincavage.

 The exhibition (and an accompanying literary magazine, also called Vera and also featuring my work, written in this case) celebrates the hidden histories of Aroostook County women, and we could interpret that theme however we wanted. I knew I'd do portraits of County Girls--this is what you're called all over the state from the Canadian border to the sea shore, if you come from Aroostook County, a place of startling and pristine rural beauty, of poverty and hard, long, cold winters, a remote, gorgeous place of gifts and privation, and for me--home.

 The one at the top--that's me, drinking kool aid on my third birthday. One pigtail has apparently come loose. Must have been some party. ;-) Below that is a picture of my sister with her high-water skirt and her glasses and her lazy eye, as she appeared at, I'm guessing, five years old. It's worth noting that she is a lionhearted girl these days, a nurse, a feminist, a poet, and--no joke--a beauty.

The last portrait is of my mother, based on a photograph that's always captivated me. I'm guessing she's eleven, and she appears to have had the same dark circles under her eyes that graced my skinny face at that age. There's a slight smile on her face, but her eyes are sad, staring--disappointed? I think it's a beautiful, striking, slightly-troubling image, and I can't stop looking at it.

All the images are paired with snippets of my own poems. I'm proud of this work, and I wish I could go home to see it hanging among the work of other County Girls on March 1. I'll be there in spirit and in felt.

The other "thing" that happened is that I quit Facebook... but I'm feeling like there's enough to read in this post already, so maybe I'll say a bit about that choice next time, which might be sooner then you think, since I have more time to blog post-FB. ;-)