The Cost of Art

Give me a smooth stone.
A river stone perhaps
or something washed up on the easternmost shore.
Something simple.

Give me an artist’s time.
A few minutes or hours.
The amount does not matter.
The care and inspiration does.

The dedication to craft.
Enough belief to do, not dream,
to make a few marks with a scratchy pen
and know it is enough.

About this poem. 

I am often asked how long it took me to do x or do y. To write this article or do this painting, as if creation is something we pay for by the hour. I’ve never felt that way. It is measured by how it touches us. No other measure matters.

The rocks were done by a local friend and artist here in the Pawlet, VT area, Heidi Hammell. I have these and some other of her art work in my house.