ART & POETRY BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©

These two watercolor sketches were painted when we lived in Northeast Minneapolis. Paul found beauty in everything, even the structures that filled the cityscapes. There is a certain charm to paintings like this – a bit of nostalgia – a different world from what we now enjoy.  When I wrote this poem, it was a day in which I ventured into the city to visit a dear friend from my past.  A man who left an indelible mark on me when I returned to college.  This professor taught me not to be afraid of taking risks – to have confidence in my abilities – to think positively. We all have those in our lives who seem to point out our strengths to us.

City within a darkened world, has beauty all its own,

The wires that lace throughout the space, the litter lying there,

The sounds of box cars hooking up, a place where crime is sown,

Where homeless search the garbage cans, to find a snack to share.

Where vagrants sleep while raccoons watch, to find their own sweet snack,

To dine on other’s leftovers, seems common to them both,

The train rails screech as cars are joined, they thunder and they crack,

The large, abandoned buildings stand, as sentries without growth.

Still skies above are clear and bright, towering over the scene as they dance,

They fill with clouds of discontent, soon darkness falls again,

Some stay awake throughout the night just waiting for a chance,

To try again to make a life, they jump a moving train.