The Arrow of Time
As part of the Draw Write Here project, Sue Blaustein and Thea Kovac collaborated as writer and artist responding to the a topic in their medium, swapping work and responding to their partner’s work, creating illustrated stories. This conversation began with Sue’s poetry.
What are screws and bolts,
and washers?
What is thrift? What is order?
What is “class” and what’s
true flavor?
What’s “before”? What is “after”?
Is “now” always stuck
between the two?
Can they change places?
How does it matter?
Someone’s packing up a workshop,
cleaning a garage.
Someone is sorting and deciding.
And says:
Don’t toss those, they’re still OK.
Take them to Goodwill.
I got
twenty inch-long
hex-head bolts,
and nineteen lock washers
in a sturdy, shapely
glass jar.
I liked the jar.
The plastic top is red
and says “High Point”.
I set my Google search terms.
“High Point”
“glass jar”
High Point
was a brand of instant decaf!
Came out in 1980…
That explains the swagger
of the typeface.
High Point commercials
featured Lauren Bacall.
They’re on YouTube.
YouTube – the past-on-demand.
I watched.
There was my jar!
Touted by an icon
for my parent’s generation,
whose golden age
stretched
into my time.
Class, sass,
sophistication –
I don’t need the caffeine…
She winks.
I’m active enough, thank you.
It’s 1981 on my screen,
2017 where I sit.
Who can choke down instant decaf
anymore?
But when
Lauren vamps, and lifts the handsome jar,
and shows us the brown crystals,
and tells us:
The flavor is deep
and rich,
you almost wish
the brand hadn’t been pulled
in 1993.
It’s 2017.
Look at what I learned
in minutes!
My transparent jar
must be at least 24 years old.
Still good for something –
the threads on the bolts
are fine.
Take them to Goodwill.
So – what are screws and bolts,
and washers?
What’s “before”? What is “after”?
Is “now” always stuck between the two?
Have they changed places?
How does it matter?
This is Thea’s response:
by Sue Blaustein
Artwork by Thea Kovac
In H. Fischman (Ed.), Draw Write Here, Volume 2, Issue 2. Blaustein, S. & Kovac, T. (2017)
The item, from Goodwill, that began Sue & Thea’s artistic conversation:
