"Bridges To Nowhere"
“Bridges To Nowhere” has been a long time in process.
As densely layered with memory, emotion and meaning as any of our lives, I hope it touches that deep and almost wordless place inside.
This is the poem that — in some dialetical process I do not entirely remember — both gave birth to, and was given birth to by, this piece’s creation.
“Bridges To Nowhere”
this quilt lacks a center
a central form to draw the eye
this is deliberate
this quilt is metaphorical
it depicts a very unhappy time in my life…
a time of grays and blacks and browns…
little color…
no life..
when I felt like a stick figure…
wandering, searching…
alone…
down streets that led nowhere…
turning corners to other nowhere streets…
searching for bridges to something good…
finding they only reached another side of pain…
only another dead end empty space…
all that seemed constant was the ticking of clocks…
relentlessly…
far too slowly…
marking the time until I could leave…
run away…
escape…
hoping endlessly this might mean new life…
New life…
is like lightening…
bright, stark, brilliant, blinding…
deafening, terrifying…
coming with storm…
rending the new from the old…
lightening breaks apart the clouds…
bringing new birth…
color…
light…
after the storm…
Kali’s destruction…
necessary…
though terrifying…
for new birth…
Music was my one light…
it softened the pain and gave me strength…
gave structure to my desolation…
as I poured my emotions over the keys…
Music was the new life I hoped for…
the only place where color still lived…
along with hope…
and the possibility of love.
Stephanie K. Nead
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