I learned recently that Claude Monet wanted most
to paint the air between himself and his subject.
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that.
What if, as a writer, my goal were to write the air
between myself and the page? Or would it be
the air between my mind and my idea concretized?
Either way, what would that mean? I write down words,
and in that moment of transmission from my brain
through my fingers to the page is there air to capture?
You say, “There’s a huge difference between writing and painting.”
But I don’t think so; in many ways, they’re exactly the same, certainly
in the inspiration welling from some same mysterious place.
One day I may understand what Monet meant,
and in that flashing moment of comprehension
I may know how his goal applies equally to my craft.
Lanning Lee 