Sages (July)

Emily Kame Kngwarreye sits in the dust. Every time I see one of her paintings I think Emily. It’s always in some huge varnished floor place with rectangles of light at windows according to the Chicago plan. The guards are there to make sure you don’t get too excited. Sometimes they wear gloves. Water is valuable at Utopia. The roots of the trees and the laughter of children and the old lady with the paint pots sure need water. I stare at her paintings and want to go into them, regardless. The big black-and-white ones are night skies in July.