DRIVING DOWN THE ROADWAYS

Southern 

live oaks

their 

winding 

limbs 

fingering, 

weaving 

into the 

road tar 

patches of 

the north 

mending 

and

tying 

fragments 

of a life 

together

snugly 

and softly

every bit 

as real 

as 

a bit of

hemp 

twine 

looped 

around a 

croker sack

The black tar lines on the Maine roads have intrigued and delighted me for years. 

I love the squiggly rhythmic patterns of the thick tar patching the cracks 

in the pavement making the roads whole and safe again.  There is also a similarity of Louise Nelvelson's line drawings of leaves to the tar and the limbs.  So I've painted my favorite pavement segments too, hoping to create something spiritually sublime or at least a little curious.

Spanish artist Eduardo Chillida from San Sebastian, Spain is a sculptor whose graphic works also remind me of the tar and the limbs.