Diane Green

Lighnin’ 2018 photo by ©dianegreen

 

Professor Black Lightnin’
Mojo hand candidate
He’s my city kitty
outta 9 lives he’s landed eight

Longhair black
He’s my 3rd one ya know
The first two were in Memphis
but Lightnin’s from Chicago

Swirling premonitions
His shadow came to me
Humboldt Park hunter
he was trying to catch
a squirrel laughin’ in a tree

Now Lightnin’ I named after
Old blues Hopkins Mojo Hand
I used to sing that song ya know
When I was in that Hellcat band

Now black cat paws
Can scratch and grab
Fast as a street rat
Lightnin’ knows where he’s the boss
He’s the underground cat

Old and ornery
Black and beautiful
Meow Morning sun
Meow Get up
Meow Get busy
Meow cat food run

Dark as night full moon or crescent
Meow lay down and sleep
Meow get to bed
Meow sleep like me
Meow now your mantra
Meow under your fur
Meow for Nirvana
And when you get there Purr

 

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Green Man – Acrylic on Wood with Hand carved frame – 2004 ©dianegreen

The Green Man

 

June 29, 2004

 

Intention: Relax.
Witness: Here is another face of the Green Man, Lord of the woods, a handsome chap, even if he is made of leaves, and maybe would too. Hmm. Long way to go as paintings go, but he is a Comforting image. Anything to tell me, Green Man?
Green Man: It's more spacious here than you think.
I: How so?
Green Man: Room for acorns…branches…
I: Cool. You see into the future.
Green Man: I can see All.
I: That sounds frightening.
Green Man: It's nothing.

 

June 30, 2004

 

Intention: Relax.
Witness: Hey, Green Man. Funny how other people's perspectives can remind you of an unbalanced thought. Process or forgotten images or something like that. It never occurred to me you look like a guy in camouflage. Gross reminds me of Vietnam. Hmm. Looks like the war in Iraq is turning into another war like Vietnam when men in camouflage helmets invaded my sleep with nightmares. Well, at least I know you're not wearing A helmet. Leaves are sprouting from your head.

July 1, 2004 9 am

Intention: Relax.
Witness: You're looking pretty official, Green Man. Any comments?
Green Man: Yeah, I'm starting to feel at home.
I: At home? So, if you're hanging on a nail in a city apartment, you'll bring springtime, abundance, and fecundity to my abode.
Green Man: Sounds doable… How about the back porch?
I: Capital idea!
Green Man: Rooftops need a lot of magic.
I: You got that right. Come to think of it, rooftop gardens need a lot of green. Long green if you get my drift.
Green Man: Your wish is my command.
I: Cross my palm, Green Man.

 

July 1, 2004 1 pm

 

Intention: Relax.
Witness: If you grant wishes, Green Man, can you grant me a city sticker for the windshield of my car?
Green Man: I can grant you the money, but you still have to walk into the currency exchange and purchase the sticker.
I: Oh, yeah, right. Hmm. So if you are a spirit of the forest, has anyone ever really seen you?
Green Man: If they hadn't, how would you know how to paint me?
I: Because I saw your face when people told me to pray when I was a kid. Except you were more brown…I thought you had hair not leaves on your head.
Green Man: Then how do you know I'm the same face?
I: Just a hunch.
Green Man: Some things are just beyond words.
I: Right-o!

 

July 2, 2004 9 am

 

Intention: Relax.
Witness: Green Man is looking pretty housed today. What do you think, Green Man?
Green Man: Yeah, it's getting there. The acorns need some polishing. One of my ears is higher than the other, and my lips are kind of a BLOB.
I: Yeah, there are some adjustments we need to make.
Green Man: But there are herbs to watch over on your back porch. Maybe you could grow a forest there.
I: That would be awesome.
Green Man: Then start gathering elements from your mother Earth. They are all around you.
I: I think I will. Thanks, Green Man.
Green Man: You're welcome.

 

July 2, 2004 1 pm

 

Intention: Relax.
Witness: Green Man, you're so close to being finished. I wish I could take you home today, but that would be too soon.
Green Man: All in good time.
I: Yeah, sometimes it seems so impossible to wait.
Green Man: You must ground and center yourself, sending the impatient energy back to the earth to be recycled Into energy for someone else.
I: Good point, Green Man. Have a nice weekend.
Green Man: You too.

 

July 6, 2004

 

Intention: Relax.
Witness: Green Man, I do believe you're done.
Green Man: Oh yeah, you stuck a fork in me.
I: Well, not exactly.
Green Man: Then how do you know if I'm done?
I: Well, it's time to move on, and I replanted my Bay tree this morning. We need the Green Man at home.
Green Man: Then I guess it's that time.
I: What's the matter? You seem sad.
Green Man: I was hoping for more in depth details.
I: I can't make you 3D, and besides, you're a spirit. You'll never really be in the physical plane.
Green Man: That's what you think…
I: So OK, maybe you live in every tree that grows.
Green Man: Maybe.
I: Oh boy, now I've got a coy Green Man.
Green Man: See what you've started?
I: I reckon so.

 

https://dianelouisegreen.substack.com/

Desert Wind – ink drawing – ©dianegreen 1978

 

saving these virgin pages for

someone in your dreams:

forget it, moon dancer

the obvious will never

be what it seems

skipping off lovers

like stones in the streams

go back to your cobweb

where you danced on

moonbeams

away from the village

where they take

their adventures

through a computer

in the den

out to the cacti

and the whispering wind

voices in the silent

clouds

and floating in the blue

away and traveling

into you…..

 

midnight wine songs

and pleasure

red mountains in the morning.

in the new mexico wind

comes a silver magician

just keep the magic

turning

desert madness

churning

our hearts to the

sound in the moon

love finds no sunset

warm heart never sleeps

in tune with these crazy crows

talking to these twisted trees

amber warm insanity

taking this wizard’s reality

and nobody knows

like i do, how much

i love you

 

entwined in the music

of his gypsy song

she sleeps

under the gazing stars

far away her sadness calling

far away she cannot hear

a dream a rainbow a rapture falling

given an oasis to replace the tear

 

https://dianelouisegreen.substack.com

Spirits - Mixed Media - ©dianegreen 2019

 

Poems I wrote when…

I was way out west

 

March 1978

 

Days lost. Madness found.
Somehow, Love came.
And turned me around.
Give me golden peace.
Like a new star in the East.
Silent. Liberation
from a hole in the ground.

 

March 1978

 

New Moon and Pisces.
Giving new journeys.
To the moondancing
girl in the flame.
New colors for an old rainbow
The treasure we find
will fall on your name.

 

September 1977

 

In love, there is No Fear

Out of the realm
of silence,
she speaks
Taking on glances.
That appear to be bold.
Wondering if she'll cry
if there's no one to hold.
Waiting on dreams from
Colorado to Ceylon,
fencing out the fear
that just keeps calling.
Oh.

 

https://dianelouisegreen.substack.com

6/05/2023 making art with kids on the sidewalk in Chicago today...muy excelente!

 

Sidewalk chalk plus 3 toddlers helped me create a new image introducing my American obligatorily disturbing self to some hopeful kiddos who just managed to cross all the way over from somewhere in South America to Chicago. Awesome. Really. Incredible opportunities avail, hopefully each new kid will get a break to rise above the oppression in the world. And I will keep learning one word in Spanish every week. Today the little ones taught me “morado” for purple…I already knew gato and amigo…they taught me the Spanish word for pink but I already forgot it. I’m really gonna need their help…

 

https://dianelouisegreen.substack.com

Train Train Train

 

Train of fools

 

Never you mind

Living on the streets back then

Dancing over the mounds of

Dirt beneath your feet

You knew every step you took down here was getting you closer to

The truth you seek

 

But what was it?

Get it on get it on get it on

Time after time after time

Thinking love was in someone’s pants

Not their hearts

Or minds

Or souls

 

And all that spirit

Came from the bottle

Someone else’s throttle

Racing meters ahead

Just to trip you up instead

 

Think that train’s gonna be movin’ real slow

Tonight

 

September 22, 2022 - It is the Autumnal Equinox today, isn't it? I'm stuck between going barefoot and wearing long sleeves. For Chicago, the chill is in the air. For my cat Django, bringing the exacerbation of hunting and gathering outdoors more exuberantly to an indoor setting is becoming a lost cause. No way are we turning on the heat, Django. It's Autumn, it's Fall for the leaves changing color and firewood showing up in grocery stores. 

 

Thoughts of sending Happy Mabon greetings to friends and family weave through my brain with attempts to Google the right gif but I just can't bring myself to choose someone elses' schlock. Thus, I bring one upon myself as the Blogetta post for the day.

 

Mabon. The Pagan name for a Celtic Wiccan day of celebration. Autumnal Equinox... a day for which Christians can scratch their heads and wonder if it's alright to worship Nature.

 

Here's the Green Man and the Daphne Tree at Brigid's Well along with upbeat Calypso drumming for celebration from one of my old paintings: 

 

© diane green 2022

 

 

 

 

Fifteen

 

Manuel high in a tree

Too young to carry an M-16

It’s heavy now

But heavier still

He’s always had it

And he always will

 

Drool your seething words on me

I’m here to destroy your empire

The chain chain chain

Is clenching

Someday it will kill

Don’t try to take chances

This ragged soul will

 

©dianegreen 1985

 

https://dianelouisegreen.substack.com