New River
FOR E.K.
Morning was damp and the one-day thaw of yesterday
had apparently been removed by the invisible systems
that pressure winters end.
The low flat clouds poured out a wet wind
turning the bricks of the streets and buildings
shiny like mirrors made of stone,
as all along this small mountain town lay still
and slept that long slow sleep of dust turned mud.
On the back stoop steps a screen door slaps
where a breath turns fog in a ghost coat
that runs and spreads in the drizzle and is gone,
as black birds pick in allegiance in the moist clay
and a lost shoe marks the boundary
of this yard and that yard and every yard.
Down at the station a Father and Son
say their good-byes as sausage grease drips
from their biscuit eyes and coffee creamed runs blood like
down the hood of a dark brown Dodge pickup.
A handshake turns into a train that rolls and coughs slowly away
to a just last glimpse of an old mans tipped cap wave
that smells away in the breeze forever.
Michael K. Paxton
Michael K. Paxton, Jesse, Hopper Car (coal)/Dog Leg
Michael K. Paxton is a well established Chicago based artist and sixth generation West Virginian whose awards include a grant from Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc., New York, Fellowship in Visual Art Award from the Illinois Arts Council, Fellowships with Air le Parc, Project and Research Center, Pampelonne, France and Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, Wyoming and a Marshall University 2013 Alumni Award of Distinction presented by the Alumni Association and the College of Fine Arts, Huntington, WV. He is also currently the subject of a documentary film in postproduction scheduled for release in late 2016.
Major one-person exhibitions include Miami University Museum of Art, Oxford, Ohio, the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, Loyola University Crown Center, Chicago, IL, the Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL, Laura Mesaros Gallery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL, among many others. His most recent group exhibitions include On Big Drawings at the Averill and Bernard Leviton A&D Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago with supported in part by a grant from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Between Rock and an Art Place, curator Robert Croker, The University of Georgia Lamar School of Art Gallery, Athens, GA, and Color Formed Space at Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL.
