I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

Good designs sell –
my designs sell out!

Friday, August 6, 2010

"Caged"

What can you do if you cage a hawk?
Broken wings beating in fury against false walls
She will break herself before being broken
In an unfair prison.

A tethered leg bound to a stump,
Broken wings bound,
Glassy eyes glaring in mistrust,
Flashes of hate piercing your skin.
She would kill you, blind you, hurt you
If she had a chance.

She hangs her drugged head, and
Her broken heart pounds painfully.
Inside hard bandages and soft feathers
Longing, gasping, waiting
For her chance to break loose.

She wants more than vengeance.
She wants the songs and silence of the sky.
So close to God,
So near her soul,
Where she belongs,
Where she rules supreme.

Free.

-- The art was created for Lake Metroparks' Wildlife Rehabilitation Center as part of a fundraising campaign. The poem was not.

27 comments:

  1. Beautiful work Linda! Amazing detail! Love the line work and contrasts. You are such a talent!! and a great poet as well. Very nice!!

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  2. Beautiful, characterful bird - so proud. Lovely poem too.

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  3. Very well done!! Wish I could draw an hawk as good as you... and write such a beautiful poem as well. Just beautiful.

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  4. Loved it throughly...wonderfully penned down and a perfect image... Have a nice day:)

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  5. Beautiful drawing and I love the poem.

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  6. Heisann!
    Two masterpieces, the illustartion and the poem ;:OD) -I love it !

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  7. Wow! That's about all I can say. The drawing is stunning, and the poem is wonderful too!

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  8. Thanks so much! I wondered how this would go over. The hawk was a very successful campaign, but the poetry isn't something I share very often. Sometimes it just bursts out of me and I write things down, but then I keep them filed away instead of sharing.

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  9. stunning! the hawk's expression is so confident and intense.

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  10. yes we were thinking alike- I LOVE your illustration and poetry!!!

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  11. Wow. Beautiful work.

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  12. beautiful, it works so well with the poem (:

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  13. This is stunning – so dignified. And with this line from your poem "She will break herself before being broken". Very nice!

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  14. Proud. :) Great attitude on the hawk.

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  15. Everyone is so nice. Thank you, thank you!

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. The poem is so good that it fills me with sadness for the bird. When a poem, a piece of music, a good movie, or artwork, brings out a strong emotion--you know it's usually good. Nice illustration too.

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  18. Setting a new goal for myself... make more people sad. LOL But hey, the rehab center is to heal animals. If I identify with the hawk, it's because I'm in rehabilitation too and will get patched up and fly again too. So ultimately, it's about optimism.

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  19. Thanks for visiting and kind words!

    I really enjoy your pen work. Elegant lines...

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  20. Fantastic! Love the eyes. Your poem also inspiring. We are all broken in one way or another, and all yearn to be free. -Heather

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  21. Riley says "It's feathery"

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