Artist's Reception Friday, September 11th from 5-7 pm

Neighbor Joe throws his pocket change into the street…

not to kill anyone off via a passing car but to share,

and to grin, watching people from his front window

silently screaming BINGO, gathering up this surprise,

a buck, a nickel, a quarter, a dime.

That’s how he does it— differently— only guy I ever knew

who intentionally peppered the pavement with dough.

I like things like that, out of the norm, like my husband

wearing Tommy Bahama shorts in the winter in the

mountains. I like women of whatever age sporting fuchsia

or tangerine or kelly-green hair. I like Democrats who wear

red and Republicans who wear blue and the others who

somatically say ‘what-ev-er or what, me worry?’ too.

Afterall, you can’t own a color.

I like to give an unexpected gift when it’s not even

your birthday and I like receiving a message from an

unexpected wise source. I like deep wells of conversation

where one never reaches the bottom but each hoisted

bucket is brimming. I like to root for the one lone ant

carrying a crumb of my scone and I’m slowly learning

to like uncertainty, drawing trust beyond the outline of

the familiar. I love seeing the world through a personal

imperfect prism making blackbirds blue, donkeys yellow,

images sometimes messy and odd, revisiting the place

of child-play, colors in hand, where wonder and awe

are always my option.

Melinda K. Hall

2026