Grappling hooks of light

I’ve been here before,
dreaming myself backwards,
among grappling hooks of light.

—Yusef Komunyakaa, from “Confluence”

Yusef Komunyakaa, 67, is an American poet who is a recipient of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Neon Vernacular. He was given the name James William Brown, the eldest of five children of James William Brown, a carpenter. He later reclaimed the name Komunyakaa that his grandfather, a stowaway in a ship from Trinidad, had lost. He grew up in the small town of Bogalusa, Louisiana. He served in the US Army from 1968–1971, serving one tour of duty in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He worked as a specialist for the military paper, Southern Cross, covering actions and stories, interviewing fellow soldiers, and publishing articles on Vietnamese history, which earned him a Bronze Star. (Source: Wiki)

Eunika Rogers, is the artist of the painting above which was created using red clay.  Eunika was born and raised in a small village near Trnava, Slovakia and eventually immigrated to Canada and later moved to the Mississippi Delta. During her senior year, under the guidance of her ceramic professor and mentor, she discovered her passion for clay – not only as an art form but also as a spiritual experience. On weekends, she and her mentor would go on clay digs in the Mississippi hills and work on their individual works of art. Today she still paints with Mississippi red clay that she digs up near Carrollton, MS. She also has added other clays and pigments to her palette. As a hiker and ultra-distance trail runner she has the means to find secluded areas with clay deposits. She runs with a small backpack and carries, along with her running/hiking gear, a small shovel, ziplock bags, and a camera to record her experiences. She has a collection of umber, sienna, and ochre clays from across America’s countryside. These clays provide the staining pigments that make up her art imagery. Through her art she tries to capture the passage of time and how it imprints our lives. Find her site and and additional works here: Eunika Rogers – ipaintwithclay.com

Credits: Poem – The Journey of Words. Painting by Eunika Rogers via UfukOrada