Portraits is a group of “poem-paintings” of human and more-than-human subjects whose lives and ways have inspired the poet. This volume includes homages to James Baldwin, Thomas Merton, Denise Levertov, Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, Vincent van Gogh, and other humans, as well as sea sparrows, parrots, mockingbirds, and starling kin… mother ocean, old-man river, spruce groves and kelp… comb jellies, grey gulls, anemones, green crabs, whelks and periwinkles. Maía’s intimate portraits show us how we can see these people and beings who belong to our world in a poetic new light.
Contents
Finished, Baby (James Baldwin)
Kentucky Woods (Thomas Merton)
Mockingbird Night (Four-Hundred Tongues/Western Mockingbird)
Speaking to the Mountain (Denise Levertov)
Captive (Parrot)
The Grey Zone (Irina Ratushinskaya)
Echo (Rachel Carson)
Horizon (Barry Lopez)
Hermes, Old Man (Will Inman)
At One With Everything (Little Brown Bat)
Mirrors of Agnes (Agnes Varda)
Muse of One-Breasted Women (Deena Metzger)
The Natural Selection of Desire (Black-chinned Hummingbird)
F i r e (Vincent van Gogh)
