Midlothian
This far north the sun barely rises
above the horizon. It’s a strange,
November day in Scotland, clear sky,
frost sent hiding, and though I need to work
I’m cutting firewood after breakfast
knowing tonight the flames will fill the room
with brandy-colored light. I am living alone,
my wife and son across the North Atlantic,
and for the first time in weeks
I’m not afraid. Even the fleet-winged hawk
high above the hare seems more graceful
than severe. Joy for both is that moment
in the field, bright noon and shadow-free,
before the talon strikes.
I kick a stone down the yew-draped path.
A limb the size of my arm drops
into the river, and out of nowhere
the sky turns gray and rain begins to fall.
Too soft, I think. Too tender.
I find the heart ripped out by claws
less offensive than the slow wearing away
that takes its toll. Give me flash-floods
and lightning bolts, but not the patient
brook carving canyons in the glen.
There is no happiness in almost.
Memory’s filled with what we think
we’ve lived. Give me absolutes.
Give me the split atom and the big bang.
Give me the racing heart,
the hawk upon my chest, those two black eyes
the universe sent forth at its beginning,
and that great empty fist,
a flash against an iron sky.
— Rick Mulkey ’92
"Rogue Wave"
W. Ted Krone ’73
Chairman of Friends University’s art department since 1989, Krone has developed an idiosyncratic style of free-flowing metal sculpture that is garnering national attention.
His work was featured recently in a New York group show, and will be exhibited in Los Angeles next year.
Krone says his creative process once focused on control and order, but that "now I tend to think my mission is more about negotiating with chaos."
"Monolith"
James Gross ’74/81
Inducted into the American Abstract Artists group in 1982 on the recommendation of a New York gallery owner, Gross is honored to be associated with this pioneering collective of non-representational artists.
Founded in 1936, the group’s membership has included such art-history figures as Josef Alber, Laszlo Moholy-Nage and Piet Mondrian.
Gross works and lives in Wichita and is an adjunct art instructor at Butler Community College.
