When taking a break from my studio practice, especially when traveling, I carry around a small plein air watercolor kit. Instead of taking photos on my phone, I try to paint and/or write. The goal is to sit with a place for 30 minutes and really take it in: the colors, the experience and how it feels.
This work was created on a train ride through the Moroccan desert.
The poem reads:
From Casablanca to Marrakesh
Morocco, 2025
The tree—unknown and unknowable
from the vantage of the train car window—
has needle fine hair,
like long, green cirri
caressing carbon dioxide
from desert dust.
Within our cabin,
a woman nibbles on raw
green peppers, perfume cutting
through the dry, stuffy air,
and for a moment
every breath is
bright and
verdant.