Poem for Monday and Brandywine Valley Visit

The Waltz We Were Born For
By Walt McDonald

I never knew them all, just hummed
and thrummed my fingers with the radio,
driving five hundred miles to Austin.
Her arms held all the songs I needed.
Our boots kept time with fiddles
and the charming sobs of blondes,

the whine of steel guitars
sliding us down in deer-hide chairs
when jukebox music was over.
Sad music’s on my mind tonight
in a jet high over Dallas, earphones
on channel five. A lonely singer,

dead, comes back to beg me,
swearing in my ears she’s mine,
rhymes set to music that make
her lies seem true. She’s gone
and others like her, leaving their songs
to haunt us. Letting down through clouds

I know who I’ll find waiting at the gate,
the same woman faithful to my arms
as she was those nights in Austin
when the world seemed like a jukebox,
our boots able to dance forever,
our pockets full of coins.

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Paul and I spent the day in the Brandywine Valley, starting in Wilmington at the Delaware Art Museum, then the Brandywine River Museum and Longwood Gardens across the border in Pennsylvania. It was very gloomy outside so it was a perfect day to spend in museums and among flowers! Here are some photos from the region:


It was a gray, rainy day but we saw lots of indoor color.


We went first to the Delaware Art Museum to see the final day of the John Sloan exhibit. Sloan did most of his illustrations and painting in Philadelphia and New York, so there were many familiar locales as well as some pointedly political art.


Since we were there, we also went to see the extensive Pre-Raphaelite collection and artists inspired by them.


The Brandywine River Museum overlooks the river. We went to the retrospective of George A. Weymouth, a du Pont descendant who studied with local artists, and to the various Wyeth galleries.


It was also the last day of the holiday train display which we used to visit with our kids, so we went to see them.


Longwood Gardens is in the midst of its orchid extravaganza.


There were some slugs hanging out by the pitcher plants.


There is lots of indoor color, though the outdoor gardens are pretty much dormant till spring.

We got home in time for the start of the Grammys, which I enjoyed though I had few passionate feelings (I was rooting for Jay-Z but more for political than musical reasons). I loved Alessia Cara, P!nk and Kesha's performances, and of course I loved seeing Patti LuPone sing "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" and Miley with Elton John.