Art On The Darkside Challenge - Ghosts of the Sea

Beneath The Waves Of Memory - Mixed Media

I made this piece to illustrate a collaborative poem created with some of my fellow ZNE members. I think it fits the eerie Art On The Dark Side prompt too.In a collaborative poem, one person writes a line and then someone else write the next & so it. Keeps rambling around for a week or so until it feels done. Sometimes it's good, sometimes doggerel but always fun to play with. Here is the poem we created last April:

Beneath the waves of Memory
lies a continent of Fear
forged from an Existence
In the past, yet so near.

Islands made of foolish dreams,
Mountains forged in Pain-
Some memories melt then disappear,
but others stay far too near

Remembering when I loved you,
that seems so long ago
diving floating rarely
surfacing for air.

Mists of memories linger
grasping fragments of the past
mixed with desperation
in a space that feels too vast.

Beneath the landscape of my pain
I try to drown you.
Why, oh why
do you always come up again
right to the surface of my heart?

The sadness is so sinking,
but it's hope that helps you rise.
Waterfalls of feelings
empty into pools of languid thought.

Suddenly, out of the darkness
deep within my soul
the flames of hope start burning
like a fire out of control.

Even the good memories hold their own pain
For I know you will never be with me again.
My arms ache for your body pressed to mine;
forever gone, never to be again.

by Stacey Merrill, Gina Smith, Harvestorm, Kathryn Virello, Cathy Minerva, Bernice Wagnitz, Allison Berringerm Heidi Eberle & Shelly Sparks

More ZNE poems (some with illustrations) can be viewed HERE
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Please note: I've stared taking entrants for a new giveaway. It is for the craft book The Scented House. For contest details & to see pictures from the book CLICK HERE. Just leave a comment on this blog before Thursday May 21 at noon (EST) to enter the random drawing.