Piece description from the artist
Childhood Dogs
. . . after a painting by Kathleen A. Fox
when you think about your childhood dogs
it’s always morning
grownups talk and drink their coffee
you smell the trees and sea
your face, your arms, your fingers, your whole
little squiggly body presses on your dog’s warm fur
your dog never minds, not even when
you pretend he is a princess or a horse
this is where you learn unconditional love
this is where you learn to speak without words
this is where you feel safe, also where you feel
you can conquer the whole world before lunch
if you were Hawaiian, your dog or ilio would be
your aumakua: family god – personal guardian
and spiritual advisor, who may visit you in dreams
you will always remember your dogs’ names
they say dogs bond with us like babies in a loop
of love and oxytocin, eyes first then melting hearts
the pope says we will meet our pets in heaven, if
we make it there also, which is no surprise to you
imagine all your childhood dogs suddenly appearing
in a pack over a white rise, tongues wagging, eyes joy
racing to you, jumping up, knocking you down, dog kiss city –
mass reunion, years and distance smashed like a dropped glass
this would not work as well with all your former cats, or lovers
childhood dogs taught you nobility, courage, class
sometimes at night you recite their names over and over
like beads on a rosary, or meditation beads, counting on them
still
Sherry Barker Abaldo
Kathleen A. Fox PhD lives and paints primarily in and around Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde, Maine. Her whimsical style beautifully captures the freedom and quirkiness of Maine.
Fox studied art and journalism at Cornell University and received a PhD in Social Welfare at the Rockefeller College, SUNY Albany, in 1996. A life-long artist, she has won numerous awards for her watercolors, including the Utrecht Award at the New England Watercolor Society Bi-Annual International Show in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Each year since 2007, Fox has created the Coastal Maine Calendar, which documents working lobster boats, their captains and port-of-call. She has also written and illustrated four award-winning children’s books.
Her paintings were most recently shown at the Archipelago Gallery of the Island Institute in Rockland, the Boothbay Regional Art Foundation in Boothbay Harbor, and the Roux-Cyr Gallery in Portland, Maine.
Fox maintains a studio on Blackberry Hill Road, Tenants Harbor and in Port Clyde, Maine.
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