The Light Within
Perhaps our souls were shaped by fields...
Note: today’s piece is our third excerpt from Stops Along the Way, a new collaboration from painter Tabby Ivy and writer Damon Falke. Our previous excerpts were “In Motion, Still,” and “Route 96.”
Today’s poem and painting appear with eight other pairings in a new booklet, available to purchase here, which was released in conjunction with the exhibition Stops Along the Way – Tabby Ivy and Damon Falke at The 2one3 in Carlton, Oregon.
The Way
Perhaps our souls were shaped by fields, You and I, with water drawn from small rivers, And clay scooped from the borderlands Beside crops and valleys where we stopped. Isn’t it true that we return? Isn’t true that Our hearts return to where they have been broken Or to where they have been filled with a love That we could not hold. Still we stopped there. We listened to the earth and the wind. We saw the two-track disappearing Into the woods and the bending of the trees, The light that could have been another world— The light and the sudden rattle of leaves that Fell on our hearts. Then we could go on.
Stops Along the Way is the second collaboration between Tabby Ivy and Damon Falke, a writer, poet and playwright living in the far north of Norway. Their first collaboration resulted in the 2022 exhibition and book, Between Artists: Life in Paintings and Prose.
Both publications are available for purchase at https://www.tabbyivy.com/books
The exhibition was on view September 5th through November 6th, 2025 at The 2one3 in Carlton, Oregon.
Damon Falke is the author of, among other works, The Scent of a Thousand Rains, Now at the Uncertain Hour, By Way of Passing, and Koppmoll (film). He lives in northern Norway.
Tabby Ivy now lives and works in Carlton, Oregon. Her home studio is a sanctuary for working, and reading her extensive collection of art books. Learn more at www.tabbyivy.com.
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Tabby, this painting is spellbinding,the distribution of light and color whipped, almost clowdy, but touchable, as well as a great homage to Damon's impressions of how light shapes our lives, like time streaming through us, encouraging us to expand with it.
Ahhhh, lovely 🧡