For Corita Kent

What we share:

The feeling of movement in a studio

The knowledge of inks like elements

The vista of paper holding all the light

it will ever need

Your sacred texts culled

from the wrappings of bread

bright dots proclaim WONDER

You are like a shaman

balancing on rocks near waterfall

but here you poise

on street curb

span chapel and billboard

The dark window coalescing

'round your eyes

does not allow you respite

from your vision

More than streaks of color

pulled across page

you see

the tenderness of the world

how frayed it is everywhere

and past the exhausted surface

BEAUTY

Drenched letters in sequences

A red heart

You print LOVE a hundred times

I think it is easy

You print LOVE a million times

until I understand:

It is the only work

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Corita Kent, also known as Sister 

Mary Corita Kent, 1918-1986, was an

American artist focusing on silkscreening,

watercolor and calligraphy. She was a 

social activist, educator, and progressive

thinker. For many years of her life she was

a member of the Sisters of the 

Immaculate Heart.

Laura Stickney, is an American artist and poet

focusing on printmaking, artist's books, drawing

and painting. She is a teaching artist.

photo--"Love Stamp" by Corita, 1985, USPS