i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Valentine's Day is tricky.  We all want to know someone is remembering us fondly on that day above most others.  Evidence of the remembering lifts one's soul; complex feelings follow if we feel un-remembered.  Memories of feeling un-remembered many long years ago still haunt me, and at the same time inspire me. 

I have for many years made cards and given them to friends and strangers I encounter in person on Valentine's Day.  In recent years, it has become a significant undertaking since people in my work and personal circles have come to know of my practice and have found themselves in my path on February 14.

Making art brings me joy.  Sharing art brings me joy.  At the height of a global pandemic that requires continued social distancing, obstacles to making art are not necessarily significant at the same time the obstacle of sharing art in person is relatively immense.  My answer to the obstacle is mail art.

This year's Valentine's Day art offering is inspired by a poem written by e. e. cummings.  In its verses, the ideas of holding within, going together, admiration, and deep affection are expressed by the author.  The art illustrates a heart held and leaves one to consider what it is to hold, and what it means to be held.  This year in particular, these themes resonate for me as I share Valentine greetings.  I am delighted to include the poem in this post as I mail postcards to some who I will not see on Valentine's Day this year but carry in my heart.

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

BY E. E. CUMMINGS

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Each postcard in this edition of 144 was individually painted using acrylic colors on watercolor paper and varnished to protect the surface.  

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