Dreadful Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Planet- Eileen P. Kennedy and Irene Christensen

The Goddess, by Irene Christensen (Norway) 2009

The Goddess Speaks
 
The goddess lives inside these mountains.
You continue to rise to the summit
to climb to the top looking up
seeing nothing but mottled heavens.
 
Into the hole you plunge
but there is no single collective mind.
The goddess questions you
about losing her blue sky.
 
She sees the bareness of her trees
almighty guardians
ones that used to give shade
to birds and creatures of the woods.
 
Her thoughts spread threads
on wheel-centered spokes.
What if the birches don’t blossom,
shaking out their brown-leaved hearts?
What if the thrushes are banished from song,
voices split from their throats?
Give my trees the grant of green again, she cries,
Let the birds sing toward heaven.
 

The Day Wavers Between Staying and Going, by Irene Christensen (Norway) 2006

The Day Wavers Between Going and Staying
 
The day does not know where to go
birds migrate from ocean to land
heads hover without permanence
water pushes into dense plants
 
sunset skirmishes with colour
the day does not know where to go
sky exudes purple red warning
wind surprises the woman’s hair
 
land vanishes from waterlog
cloud beasts survey for safe landing
the day does not know where to go
birds flutter seeking to escape
 
earth cries to the overhead for help
fowls look for a place to put down
water courses flooding the land
the day does not know where to go

Between Shell and Troll, by Irene Christensen (Norway) 2013

Between Shell and Troll
 
Moon dwelling
artist’s divination.
Heaven-wheel keeps turning
through all the constellations.
 
High-spire shell
the illustrator of the new world passes
with open-ended canal
to the fjord the monster guards.
 
The painter predicts
the demise of the forest.
Fires of orange
destroy tree garlands.
 
Through the conch hunt
resonating vision echoes through hulks.
She clears troll and grey sky
and come out the other end.

Lotus Goddess Painting, by Irene Christensen (Norway) 2009

Lotus Goddess
 
The green ochre of your face
against the pomegranate earth
makes this portrait you.
This head covering hijab
highlights the pain of your eyes,
one of your many arms lost over
to peregrine falcon claws,
the tendrils of octopus
lost in the gems of the sea.
Your scarlet lap on a blooming lotus
a plum, a berry-vine.
 
How strong you are.
Parvati, the woman of truth growing the morning calm
and Kali, the dancer who crushes all living things
sits in your same body
holding the future in your many hands.
 
The past behind you, the gods heap
lashing winds and flashing floods.
In the oldest stone temple, priests
twirl water on rocks.
 
Who pleases the deities now?
Will humans and animals survive?
Will the icebergs continue to melt?
Will the goddesses remain in balance?
Will Mother Parvati prevail with peaceful energy?
Will Kali pierce the air with her battle cry,
crushing the world with her frenzied, greedy feet?

Ino, by Irene Christensen (Norway) 1998

Ino and the Goddesses
 
The golden goddess
sits on a rock watching.
The winged deity stands in praise.
Ino raises her hands in supplication
to the ancient ones
for her water kingdom.
She prays
for the aquatic animals to heal
the fish to flow
and the waters to purify.
Blood runs on the ground from the mountain.
A boat filled with people flees the polluted water.
The goddesses remain grounded in their hope
knowing that their wishes may come true
that the seas see everything
and that nothing will come to pass
without the blessing of the ancestors
without a vision of the future.

Eileen P. Kennedy

This selection is from a collaboration about women and climate change, between poet and artist, Dreadful Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Planet.
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Eileen P. Kennedy is the author of two collections of poetry: Banshees (Flutter Press, 2015), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won Second Prize in Poetry from the Wordwrite Book Awards, and Touch My Head Softly (Finishing Line Press, 2021) which Literary Titan has described as “emotionally-charged poetry that explores life with observant poems that will appeal to anyone who loves inspired poetry.” It was a finalist for the International Book Awards in General Poetry. She lives in Amherst, MA with the ghost of Emily Dickinson. More at EileenPKennedy.com.
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Irene Christensen divides her time  between New York City and Oslo, Norway producing her work in her studios. She has exhibited in Europe, Asia  and the United States. Her art has been shown in museums, art centers and galleries in the U.S., Costa Rica, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Israel and Argentina. She showed an installation of nine accordion books at Palazzo Mora during the Venice Biennale. Irene Christensen has received many honorariums and awards both in Europe and the U.S. and is represented in many museums and personal collections. John Zeaman, art critic and writer,  says: “Irene Christensen’s art is about painting as a magical act.”