Ode to Maynard Dixon

Landscapes that I know
And you Know

(before digital millennium copyright)

Ridges and Mountains
That you saw the sun Blaze

(before sub-divisions)

A canvas of Transcendence
At a time when Saguaros
Raised their arms to the Day

(before snowbirds
obese children
consumers
illegals)

You saved their spirits for all Time
One morning, painting a Portrait
Camped in the bed of the River

(before we killed the river)

Someday I hope to see you there, Maynard
On the banks of the Rillito
Cigarette hanging from your Mouth

(no one seeks out a ghost)

I will not interrupt, Old Man
Your old body still holding a Brush
Me and my pony have to be Home.

(who is here in the rain but us?)


Gentler Readers of This Blog: I went to the Tucson Museum of Art with great anticipation to see the collected works of Maynard Dixon. He spent his later years in Tucson, and many of his landscapes I recognized immediately as they are from perspectives exactly where I commute to and from the office from home. A good deal of his work is owned by one collector here in Tucson. Dixon's Tucson landscapes of the Catalina Mountains and Pucsh Ridge, Picacho Peak, etc, were painted in the early and mid 1940's--before land speculators (Realtors) developers, and golf course designer/builders arrived--corporations with the sole purpose to generate profit for shareholders--which in my opinion, have desecrated this area.