Eat my oysters, and lie near her,
She'll be fruitful, never fear her.
--Jonathan Swift
"So sweet is their flesh," oil on wood board, 8x10"
Over the last two weeks, I've been busy painting fresh, raw oysters. This is mostly in preparation for my upcoming solo show at 3rd & Ferry Fish Market, which will be on May 12th, from 7-9 pm. Becca and Mike, the owners of that great restaurant, kindly provided me with some beautiful oysters. I've included some poetry to accompany the paintings, much in the same way I might enhance a plate of oysters with some lemon juice, or a glass of champagne. Bon Appétit!
"The Oyster's Weeping Foot" oil on board, 8x10''
An oyster poem by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Charming oysters I cry:
My masters, come buy,
So plump and so fresh,
So sweet is their flesh,
No Colchester oyster
Is sweeter and moister:
Your stomach they settle,
And rouse up your mettle:
They'll make you a dad
Of a lass or a lad;
And madam your wife
They'll please to the life;
Be she barren, be she old,
Be she slut, or be she scold,
Eat my oysters, and lie near her,
She'll be fruitful, never fear her.
"Raw" oil on wood panel, 3.75x4.5" (Currently available for sale for $50, without a frame. Contact me privately, or visit my Shop.)
And, "for dessert," an excerpt from a poem by Roethke:
The breath of a long root,
The shy perimeter
Of the unfolding rose,
The green, the altered leaf,
The oyster's weeping foot,
Are part of what she is.
She wakes the ends of life.