Kathleen McClung
Sonnet for the Family Down the Block
Another roof, across the street—a dad
and crying baby share the sky with me.
We haven’t met. They might be new. Yes, sad,
these tears and neighbor anonymity.
At ten to eight each day, small groups of kids
en route to school. Some skip, hold hands to cross
past idling cars beneath STOP signs. When did
I know I wouldn’t have a child? The loss
rears up sometimes. Perhaps right now. A man
whose name I do not know hums, cradles her,
and though I cannot hear the tune, I can
devise a kind of harmony, offer
it here, a neighbor’s song of sharing sky
above rooftops. A sort of lullaby.
Anaphora for Mrs. Henderson
What happened between sixth grade and now?
What happened at Woodlake Elementary didn’t stay at Woodlake
Elementary.
What happened to your red hair when you got old?
What happened in 1972 was we moved to Colorado with our guinea
pig in a cage in the backseat.
What happened to your twin sister, the one who roller skated with you
down San Francisco hills?
What happened to the jar of multicolored felt-tip pens you used for
commenting on my stories?
What happened often was somebody got killed or kidnapped.
What happened to all the Snoopy figurines on the piano and the
windowsills when you retired?
What happened at the Variety Show carried me a long way, like the
carpet rides I kept reading about.
What happened took way too long.
What happened to the viola section of the Sacramento Symphony
when your husband got old?
What happened surprised most of the adults but none of the children.
What happened when I tried Googling you recently after fifty years of
silence, like the silence just before a kidnapping?
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| Anna Lee Hafer is a studio artist based in the Philadelphia area whose work is heavily influenced by such famous surrealist painters as René Magritte, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso, all of whom strove to build their own realities through small glimpses into a particularly confusing, but utterly unique worldview that dictates its own specific set of instructions. With references to the laws and physics of Alice's Wonderland, the artist challenges the audience's inherent understanding of perspective, reality, and universal order.
In her work, Hafer pours and layers paint to create dimension and texture, mixing different styles and colors onto each other until they produce a 3D effect. Through marker and pencil that create shadow, she further enhances these forms and separates them from the background. Heavier layers and thicker brushstrokes in the foreground of her work push the painting toward the viewer, whereas the thinner layers and small brushstrokes in the background, elongate the space and push away from the viewer. By juxtaposing interior and exterior elements, Hafer makes the audience question whether they are looking at something inside or outside.
For additional information, please visit www.hafer.work.
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