Joanna Hartle
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  • bio
  • creative practice
    • morning promises
    • UNSEEN EYE
    • entrypoint
    • now is gone
    • BEYOND
    • 海の霧から : Umi no kiri kara : From the Sea fog
    • camino
      • Camino days
    • ghost
    • Other Artistic moments
  • contact
  • welcome
  • bio
  • creative practice
    • morning promises
    • UNSEEN EYE
    • entrypoint
    • now is gone
    • BEYOND
    • 海の霧から : Umi no kiri kara : From the Sea fog
    • camino
      • Camino days
    • ghost
    • Other Artistic moments
  • contact



From the Sea Fog

Picture
I received a note
Scribed on white cellulose
Carried by the wind
 
Through my swirls, damp, cold
The sea empress
And I send it back
 
Before you were here
Sadness arrived, calling me
I came, I come, here
 
The generation past
The young still run wild
You appear dislocated
 
Thoughts, clinical cold
Disturbing account hangs heavy
Announcing the death
                                   
Are these words I see
How can I know what is real,
Has meaning to pass on
 
For now, I believe
I will listen to questions
And offer solace
 
For all the souls who
Have lost and are lost
Take sanctuary in me.
 
I give you the beach
I give you the air to breath
I give you salt water
 
I see you dancing
I am here beside you always
In the dark and light
 
I am not aged
I am both young and old
Ephemeral, yet illusion
 
He may be gone, but
They linger still in your heart
Ever present, ever close
 
Ever present I hear you
Desperate to shout at yourself
You move like a rock
 
The noise above the waves
A horn like giant void
Shares madness in ritual
  
What language is this
One dimensional with time
Linear and shallow
 
I hear the loud cries
Like birds rising above air
The birds see and tell
 
You bow your head down
A requiem for the lost
Lost in the moment
 
You dive and swirl wildly
Making sand patterns on the beach floor
Chaotic, seeking sanctuary
 
The dull ache of loss
Ebbs and flows like time passing
A cycle to move through
 
From the pain within
Searching for meaning, understanding
I connect to you
 
Envelop the space
 Between the here and the there
You and me, here, now
  
The they and the me
Between the life and after
Unfathomable
 
You throw all at me
Into the sand, making noise
Wise one listen to the call
 
Ancestors are here
Return to spirit, soul free
Be one with it all
 
With the universe
They are here and they are there
Fog, sea, ice, wind, sun
 
I see your real soul
A mirage they are not, feel
Let it go, be free
 
The unreal and real
I am all encompassing
Mother controls all
 
No escape from death
Drawn here to lament and feel
Loss never makes sense
 
No direction now,
You will find your direction,
let go find new way
 
Reality holds
Creating bridges across
Isles joined with air
 
Sea connects to fog
Ethereal nature ever strong
Take a leap of faith
 
I did not go anywhere
Take sanctuary within
You will find me always
 
Surrender to my mist
Clean yourself in my vapour
Find meaning in salt
 
It tells the story listen
It reaches your heart and smiles
we will be safe here
 
Trust it, feel it, love
Banish fear, embrace breath, hope
Breathe in the now 
 
I wrap around you
It is found, in this moment
Be calm, let go, still
 
Be free, you are safe
Feel the elemental spark
It will lead you home

 
Picture Image of Lino cut print with swirls of to represent sea and fog in communication
Translation by Sea Empress for the Sea Fog (2021)
海の霧から : Umi no kiri kara : From the Sea Fog, Joanna Hartle (2021) (lino cut, words, loss)
  • welcome
  • bio
  • creative practice
    • morning promises
    • UNSEEN EYE
    • entrypoint
    • now is gone
    • BEYOND
    • 海の霧から : Umi no kiri kara : From the Sea fog
    • camino
      • Camino days
    • ghost
    • Other Artistic moments
  • contact