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Boat and Yellow Hills: Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), n.d., oil on canvas, 77.4 x 91.44 cm; image by Ed Bierman, 15 August 2013 (Oakland Museum of California)
Melodious liquid warble in the plum
Tree tells the sinking year how to feel
Its recession into grief as if a thorn
Poked a nester in an old wounded heart
Of stone from which slowly drips recognition
All breathing passion far above
These days atonal as white noise
Through bare branches cotton clouds drift by
Last yellowed leaves catch lone rays of sun
Going down into the motherless ocean
A light plane buzzes off toward brown hills
As shade drops over the next urban plot
To prepare the air for what the dead don’t know
How swiftly we are coming to join them
Pink Trees: Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1919, oil on board, 35.56 x 43.18 cm (private collection)
Stinson Beach: Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1919, oil on board, 30.48 x 41.27 cm (Oakland Museum of California)
Spring: Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by Molly, 21 December 2007 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)
Spring: Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by Allie_Caulfield, 8 October 2011 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)
Spring (detail): Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by Janey Moffat, 12 May 2007 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)
Spring (detail): Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by sftrajan, 5 July 2011 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)
Spring (detail): Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by sftrajan, 5 July 2011 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)
Spring(detail): Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by sftrajan, 7 February 2011 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)
Spring (detail): Selden Connor Gile (1877-1947), 1928, oil on canvas; image by sftrajan, 5 July 2011 (de Young Museum, San Francisco)