Breaking the Ice at Canoe Lake, by Emily Tee

Spring Ice, by Tom Thomson (Canada) 1915-1916

 Breaking the Ice at Canoe Lake

Thomson, a real man's man,
right at home among his male pals
better in a small group
there, on the perfect, still
deep blue Canoe Lake
paddling through the water
trading jokes, banter, man talk
with the pipe smoke rising
from dead centre of his smile

and yet, and yet...

eye of a true artist
reader of the landscape
amongst all those literal names,
the loggers and fishermen,
able to see into the depths
not just by adding more ultramarine

he found solace sketching lines
capturing, en plein air,
the bitter cold of the season's end
birch, rock, ice, lake
ice cubes floating in blue Curaçao
breaking winter's icy stranglehold
the smallest glimmer of what lies beneath
what comes next

later, back in true winter
in that Rosedale shack
smoke rising from the pot bellied wood burner
he'd mine his past, his hinterland
fill in the depth
fatten out those sketched lines
fill in the colour,
tell the truth of the north

Emily Tee
​
After a working life focussed on numbers Emily is now finding time for appreciating art history and trying her hand at writing poetry and flash fiction.  She had her first ever published piece in  an Ekphrastic Review Challenge in late 2021.  Emily volunteers with a heritage organisation which provides a neat intersection of her interests in history and the arts and she gets to talk to a lot of interesting visitors.  Originally from Northern Ireland, Emily has lived in England for many years.