Leaf Burning

2002

24" X 16"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

The fires have been burning all morning.
A break in the November rainfall
and every neighbor seems to have chosen this window
in which to cremate the arborous debris.

I have a memory from early childhood
of standing back as my father lit the pile of leaves
which my brothers and I had finished jumping in.

The smoke rising slowly in streamers
and then all in a whoosh
the flames were roaring
and we took two giant steps further back.
I looked up and saw these same wild colors.
Firelight reflected on the underside of the smoky cloud
and blue sky peeking back through from above.

As the smoke filters in through the open studio window
on this afternoon some forty years later
it still has the power of mystery
and my imagination is carried away
like the escaping leaves.