Ode to Howard, Art and Poetry by Sheila Benedis

Ode to Howard

I breathe you in

my husband

I hear your tender voice

see your tall quiet body

I gather up your strength

remember your never ending support

 

and become high

 

I remember you driving me to an art workshop

when I began creating baskets

thank you for placing our sleeping young son

on the backseat of the car

waiting patiently for me

 

never complaining

 

thank you for endlessly packing up my baskets

to send to galleries all over the country

 

thank you for climbing on ladders

when my work changed to installation pieces

hanging them on walls and from the ceiling

 

disregarding warnings of danger

 

when I went on many artist residencies

gone for a month at a time

thank you for your patience

you never complained about my meager income

 

even though you were comfortable with

the medieval art at the Frick

 thank you for appreciating my contemporary creations

my beauty my intellect

 

you understood my value