The Lazarus Effect

Another gray-steel sky today and the snow looks ever more dirty. But I drove to town to the Twilight Tea Lounge to meet a friend, a young painter, whose presence and lively conversation perked me right up. Speaking with Lauren, who is tremendously driven, sincere and focused in her work, was inspiring. She is always interested in growing as an artist and always shapes her life around her art--not the other way around.The Earl Grey Tea and maple scone helped too. As I took a hiatus from my writing life and have only returned to it recently, it does feel, as I told my husband, like I was a dying person who sat up and coughed. Thank goodness for the company of friends who help, as S. Kunitz said in a poem, "remind me who I am."
image: Lauren Watrous, Untitled, oil on linen, 24 x 36," 2009