All the Songs We Loved Before
Dale Copeland, 2025
An old and battered guitar, a gift from John Ellis: scratched, gouged, stringless, with the words made of cut-out letters.
I attached the ragged figure - the performer down on his luck.
It told of the pain of loss.
I cleaned it, tried my hand at French polishing over the scars.
| I worked with John's high school teacher. She said he was the brightest and best. Too bright to cope .... he wrote poems, and sold them on the street. Painted gaudy words which shouted his beliefs. And gave me his old guitar. |
Dale's studio can be found at Puniho,
Surf Highway, Coastal Taranaki, New Zealand
More of her artwork, and the books she makes, can be found on her site at dalecopeland.co.nz.
email Dale at dale@tart.co.nz