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i shall not covet my neighbor's garden 48x46" oil on linen 2022

set my heart ablaze 36x30" oil on linen 2022

all the fallen glory 36x30" oil on linen 2022

my neighbor's garden 36x30" oil on linen 2022

when in rome 40x30" oil on linen 2022

side alley approach, kentucky 24x20" oil on linen 2022

the stories they tell 47x35" oil on linen 2022

...    I walk among the gardens, sensing
what I believe to be the plants breathing,
but is more likely the humidity of the summer day,
the slight breeze out of the west 
bringing with it a heat wave
moving out towards the sea, so near
yet the city stops the scent of salt from entering.
Instead the rancid garbage piled
on the pavement, burns slowly
in the sun, off-gassing
mingling with the roses 
in a tangle of sick and sweet. 
The molecules of my self glide past--
the mirage of me
and the garbage
and the roses
and the green green plants of the gardens
spilling through the bars of nineteenth century iron,
and the passing stranger on a cellphone,
and the sea--
they merge, then repel, bounce away
so that we are not really one at all,
the boundaries of ourselves 
give the hard edged impression of reality. ...

                                       
- excerpt from Boundaries by Emily Church

copyright Emily Church 2022