Art image of a figure sitting inside a seed which is growing underground.
“Lost inside the great swell, we seek our point of equilibrium. Sometimes it is the space between that offers us the greatest gifts.” - Lisa Kagan

Seed

I plant myself in the darkness
trying to root and hold
I seek life
so I yearn to endure and sustain
I am invisible
my existence is somewhere in between
being and not being
my heart is so small,
tinier than a poppy seed
yet one day it may grow to be so vast
that it can hold a whole sea of human emotions

I am in a state of pure potential
in believing,
I have a chance to become.

 

Myth of Infinite Capacity

Art image of a woman being pulled in different directions.I am a perpetual motion machine
you are constantly in motion
keeping me going and doing
yet when your small body
rests next to mine
I completely dissolve into you,
I am all being
and we are one

I am picking up soggy Cheerios off the floor
crawling out from under the dining room table
I bang my head
a plate falls
carefully I pick up little shards
there is rustling in the walls
it must be the mice making their home for the winter
I hear dripping
it is the water heater, leaking
hasn’t stopped raining for days
I think of walking out the door
things fall apart
I am the glue
I stay
help put things back together

I am in a tall office building
looking out over the city
with views of the mountains
and snakes of car lights weaving through the streets
I am writing books
discussing ideas, recording stories
wearing my artful jewelry
finally polished after two years of tarnish
of being left unworn
I am making things happen
moving with confidence and grace

I am oranges
lowfat milk
turkey, bread
I am waiting in line
juggling
walking a tightrope
balancing
carefully choreographing my next move
attempting to orchestrate a life well lived

I am a gardener
making a place to root
to grow
you are a flower
beginning to recognize me
not just as your soil
but as my own tree, too
together we begin to bloom.

 

Learning to Fly

Art image of a mother and child standing at the top of a hill gazing at the moon and stars.When you first learned to walk
you seemed to be pulled forward by an imaginary thread
as if you had tapped into the fact that the earth is continually in motion
and that you too would follow in that same course
you have been on the go ever since
I think that will serve you
propelled by the inertia of discovery

now, you are beginning to make your own way
your first words have multiplied
catapulting you into the world of ideas,
“When the sunsets, does it melt into the river?”
“Are caterpillars and butterflies twins?”
“Where does the moon sleep?”

It is through the seeds of your imagination
that you will learn to fly.

 

About the Art & Poetry:

Art image of a woman in a bottle, releasing birds out of the bottle.In exploration of the “the space between,” this collection of poetry and art is selected from the body of work that Lisa Kagan has created during her journey of meeting her husband, conceiving her child, the nine months of her pregnancy and her first three years of motherhood. Lisa has created these narrative images, combining acrylic painting and photography, as a way to explore her own life stories and the creative potential inherent in life’s liminal spaces. Selected images from the work shown here will also be featured in Lisa’s upcoming illustrated book, the Art of Motherhood Anthology, which is currently underway. This anthology is a collection of art and writing by mother artists and writers from around the country exploring themes central to the early years of motherhood.

About the Artist:

Lisa Kagan is an artist, writer and personal historian. She believes in the transformative nature of the creative process to heal, empower, challenge, inform, and awaken the human spirit. Her business, Family Heirloom Arts, is dedicated to helping people celebrate their life stories through the creation of illustrated heirloom books. She is also the founder of the Art of Motherhood program, offering creative writing and art programs for mothers of young children. Lisa has published a book of her original work entitled Emergence, Poetry and Art by Lisa Kagan. Lisa lives with her husband and their three-year-old son in Portland, Oregon.