~by Gregg Rowe~
for Alain Paradis
IN MEMORIAM
Guy Quesnel
(1947 - 1988)
His portrait
hangs on
our living room wall
Laughter painted
all over it
with his moustached smile
and candle grey eyes
Autumn-orange leaves
whisper
in my head
like the many silks
of his skin
that I used to brush
His portrait
changes colour
like whispering leaves
of season
at dusk
Whispers continue
of him
hanging on
our living room wall
I crawl into his arms
one last time
The beauty of it
engraved forever
etch in bounded books
of history
and abandoned loves
like his portrait
hanging on
our living room wall
I soak this paper
in salt water
released from my body
it's a fountain
pen writing these words,
drench the paper
with ink
trying to remember
so I don't forget him
yet my fountain pen
refused to stagnate us
like his portrait
hanging on
our living room wall
I grow old, yet
he will
remain forever young
hanging on
our living room wall
the warm ink flows
beneath my fingertips
hastily writing,
capturing every word
on blue-lined white paper
I remember
a glimpse
of a cool-calculated glance
from him:
the sun shone
mischievously in his eye;
his lip curled
like a child's playful smirk
sometimes when the light
is right
on his portrait
hanging on
our living room wall
these memories come back:
I believed I cried,
or yelled
that rainy Montréal night
I put him to sleep,
closed his dark eyes,
covered him
with a warm,
woollen blanket
so he wouldn't get cold
the wheels of time turned
the wheels of life stopped
all my souvenirs
evolved around him
flushed through an
angelic light
as his body
slumped in my arms
Leaves whisper in my mind
different season, changing colours
salt water ceases
to flow from my body
my fountain of ink
continues to flow
like the many silks
of his skin
Author notes
Serenity's Shadow (2003)
Oil on Canvas 12 x 14
Gregg Rowe
Collection: Alain Paradis
I never knew Guy as a true friend. He was the lover of Alain, who I had met, just six months earlier, playing pool in our favourite bar before Guy passed away. I moved in with Alain so that he would not be alone after Guy died and am still living him after 11 years, though we are not lovers. (It is still surprising to me how people can think that two men cannot live together and not be lovers, hehehe!) We are two men who needed a friend at a time in our lives and found one another.
In writing this poem, I looked every day at an oil painting of Guy hanging in our living room and imagined myself to be in Alain's position the day that Guy died. (I didn't really have to imagine after all my experiences with death in the community, but this was a relationship that was special and as I continued to live with Alain, I needed to write it down.) I went to our local park on a September evening and as I listened to the wind rustle the tree leaves, three hours later I arrived back home with this version. I know I captured the honesty of it when I read it at a poetry reading one night in front of two hundred people and Alain was sitting in the audience. Needless to say, this remains to be one of his favourite poems I have written in memorializing a friend that I did not know personally.
The above painting is an original that I did last year and it was my second one. It replaces the portrait now becoming Alain's favorite painting on our wall. I have never painted or drawn in my life before, now I am having a vernissage in April, 2004.
Written January 28th, 2002
In a list
- HIV and AIDS • next in list
- In memoriam • next in list
- Showcasing His Oil Paintings through Poetry • next in list
- Pop Culture • next in list
A contest entry
- Emotion and Feeling by AKM Takayuki.
300 points, ended December 31, 2005, 28 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 23 of 23
-
very good! this poem has power and emotion, you definitely expressed you missing if Guy. good luck! thanks for entering my contest!
-
Tainted now known as Postmarked:
Hello there stranger, thought I would pop in and see my messages and noticed that have a few changes to make upon my page. Thank you for your visit, notice of name change and critiquing my poem. I have really misssed you and am glad to see you have resurfaced. See you soon and sending you many Winnie 
s. Gregg 
-
I love the repition of the lines:
hanging on
our living room wall
That added an unknown power their to the whole piece. You didn't need the oil painting. If I was blind, I could feel through your words under my fingers to gain sight once again. It captured my mind so much. A thousand words can truly paint a picture.
Signed,
Postmarked Obituary
The artist formerly known as Tainted Goddess
-
Beautifully written!
Your picture reflects your beauty within and out. Alain is a lucky man to have such a wonderful friend. Many hugs* my friend, and for Alain. -
Oh my god....I think we may have a winner....beautiful....absolutely beatiful...
-
This is one of the very few pieces that has left me without the many words that come tumbling out of my cake-hole. Truely, this is simply something that no human word on this planet can come up with an adjective to fully describe what you have written here is. (Hopefully you understood that because I myself don't believe I do.) I can see why Alain has this as a favorite, it is becoming one of mine. A stupendous write.
Thankies ever so muchly for entering and I hope the sweetest of dreams find you wherever you may go! ~D~ -
Divine Compassion
Dearest Gregg
Tongue-tied!
A soft brushstroke on a silken canvas fading into Eternity ...
Myraeeeee -
Gregg,
Thanks for your critique on my haiku. I know very little about them so your points taught me a lot.
I was very touched by this poem. It had the feeling of a prayer and was full of love and warmth for your friend. The thought of his spirit being captured in his painting and knowing that he was gone tears at the heart throughout the poem. You did your friend justice.
I can't believe that is only your second painting. Your use of color is magnificent. I hope the vernissage went well back in April.
Be well, my friend.
Mark -
My Aunt has a protrait of my grandfather when he was a handsome, stapping, youg man hanging in her living room. It screams at me whenever I go there to write about the face with its' intricate detail, and wondrous hazel eyes.
You must feel a bit of release after writing this and immortalizing your friend. This is lovely Gregg. You write with such splendid imagery. Forgive me for my absence of late. I have been dealing with many issues. Just wanted to drop by and feel you in words. Very touching and eloquent. Your art work is amazing. I pray all is well with you.
Blessings and Love,
Renee
-
I feel very privileged to have read this poem. It expresses so much that so many of us must face in such a beautifully sensitive positve way. You are evidently a very accomplished man who shares his talents selflesly. I am, once again, totally humbled. Take Care.
-
gregg, you are an amazing Artist and poet, this painting it is so alive, you have placed your heart and soul in it. The poem is a magnificent dedication to Alains friend Guy. Well done my friend~Love~Joan
-
By the way, this is the kind of work that really inspires me or atleast nudges me to really take care in my own work. It is not reflected in my poetry yet, but I am headed that way. This really is amazing...
-
This si absolutely stunning. The picture would get crooked fi i said anything more.
-
Magnificent
Your picture is astounding. I just had to comment on it. It's absolutely beautiful. Besides being a skillful writer you're a ver talented artist/painter. Avril
-
oh this is beautiful.though inspired by a sad story,you portrayed feelings in a lovely way.it was very kind of you to do this.ttul
-
this made me cry...you are the most brilliant poet...
-
You capture the essance of a life lived and love inn your poem (even if not your own). You can bring emotions to life quite well in your writing and I wonder if you have entertained the idea of making your therapy into a manuscript to have published so that not only those here at AP are enlightened by your feelings, experiences and gift of worded portraits. Another excellent, lovely write. Best of wishes to you...~genielassie~
-
It's hard for me to get through poetry without rhyming because I tend to read it like a book but this lay out was perfect, you touched upon delicare subjects with beauty, you really did. You were able to display emotion in way I never thought of it done
Ex.)
I soak this paper
in salt water
released from my body
And I love the way it is almost symmetrical from the top to the bottom, You talk about salt water in the beginning and the end, you talk about the changing color of nature as welll and The most beautiful part that needed to be said: The many silks of his skin, that was brilliant. You did an excellent job -
This was just so beautiful, made even more so by the information that I felt privileged to be allowed to share from your authors comments, explaining how this poem came into life.
Having lost my brother at 24 I know how the passing of the years does ease the pain and that holding thoughts that loved ones stay forever young and happy in our memories is of some solace.
Kat xxx -
hahaha...thanks for the offer. I have added you to my faves list...i will come back to this one and promo it again when i have some more. And i am in a major crunch with grad school right now, so i know about school constraints!haha...not necessary to read me. If you want to great, if not...that's fine too. I'm not one of the...i will only read you if you read mine...sect.
Time to run!
Be well.
UB
-
Thanks UB, how much money you need 'cause I have like, 99 left and I can give you some!!!! Thanks for your comment on my poem 'Guy's Portrait and the promotion of of it, very very much apppreciated. I will stopr by and read some of yours soon after my exams this week.
-
Gregg, this is an extremely beautiful and touching poem. There i so much that could be said...but simply, it is a piece that should be read. I am very low on points right now...but with what i have...i am going to promote this. It should be seen.
UB
-
You did an exceptional job with this piece in evoking all the emotions and depth of feeling associated with the loss of anyone dear. It reaches right to the soul and heart of the emotion in it's simple format. These,....I soak this paper
in salt water
released from my body
it's a fountain
pen writing these words,
drench the paper
with ink
trying to remember
so I don't forget him
......... for me are the most evocative words, describing that awful desperation to hang on to someone you have lost and loved, and know you are helpless, in any real sense, to have any control over whether you even remember them or not.
This really moved me. Thank you for sharing.
Adding your comment:
1 - 23 of 23
7 old applause
