somewhere i have never travelled

Iconic

relic images,
novelties in a Belgian pub,
aged and scattered
like scuttling leaves.

will we forget
the trueness of their love,
outcast by the world’s law,
embraced only by God?

will we forget
the way they bundled up
God’s red-faced gift
and cherished it
like a rose
you won’t let die?

will we forget
their inscrutable trust
in the one who trusted them,
who put His helplessness
into their awed and open hands?

will we forget
this purest moment,
this greatest love?

 

 

The Guardian

In the end
what holds
is not what comforts
or sedates,
passes the time
or dominates.

These idols of leisure
will not last.

Time will tease us
into complacency,
but only if we let it,
only if we do not hear.

We long for those hoof beats,
that call to the quest,
we long to do and believe.

Oh that heavy breath
of the messengers of old,
suspiring for a cause,
that noble gallop,
that speechless spittle,
those beautiful feet.

 

 

 

 

Winter’s Tale

A sad tale’s best for winter
when bitter longing
is numb with frost,
when despair tempts
with chilling beauty,
when weariness finds
a hopeless home
far from pain and loss
far too from love,
when we wait
like unbundled children
in the dumb cold,
when that enemy Time
that bear in winter
sleeps

 

 

 

 

 

Solo

I almost remember
hot sticky chords
and the blues that broke them
from bitterness to beauty.

I almost remember
those breathless bars
before the solo,
the fear, the ache.

I almost remember
how time anchored,
how sorrow repented,
how we flew
solo,
but not alone.

 

 

 

 

Tapestry

you
I
we
a
v
e
to a where
beyond fabric

bearing
heat
water
weight
grace

the question of integrity
threads our story
in bolts of rain

not will we stand
but will we strive

the whole
holds
the answer

yes

 

Image Transfers by Dan Bandel, 2007
Poems by Kat Bernhardt, 2007

 

What are Image Transfers?
According to legend, in the 1960s a Polaroid research photographer left a Polacolor negative face down on a counter top and, impressed by the compelling image, began experimenting with what became the image transfer process. It gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the 1990s, photographer Dan Bandel began creating his own image transfers from polaroid film. His receptor sheet of choice was watercolor paper. He occasionally used watercolor pencils. I’ve had the privilege to witness the process a few times. It is a blend of artistry and chance.

In Dan’s own words from 2006: ”I think image transfers and manipulations lend themselves to pushing the boundaries of possibility. I never know exactly how the end result will look, so my preconceptions are irrelevant. I simply want to generate a response in the viewer, to foster discussion, and to invite the viewer to step closer to the image to figure out what is happening.”