Except as noted, all images copyrighted by and should be attributed to E B Hawley.
I had become many eons ago a traveling literary gnome, inquisitive about places I had and had not visited,
walking the same paths of peoples from the past, through places once grand and still grand,
photographing images that now show me the places about which I still dream . . .

Friday, March 2, 2012

OKC State Capitol

       The capitol building in Oklahoma City has grown in size, height, and culture since they began its construction in 1914. Not until 2002 did they build the dome and topped it with a figure, The Guardian, a sculpture by Enoch Kelly Haney, former State Senator. His sculpture of a Native American "guarding" the capitol and the people of Oklahoma seemed quite touching to me. "My lance pierces my legging and is planted on the ground. I will not be moved from my duty, from my love of Oklahoma and all of its people . . . I will stand my ground, and I will not be moved," wrote Haney about The Guardian.
          A replica of the sculpture stands inside the building a the top of the stairs. 

Sculpture by Enoch Kelly Haney, The Guardian.
Detail of The Guardian.
       Just to embellish the eleven acres of floor space, art work that portrays the history of Oklahoma hangs on every floor. I estimated hundreds of paintings gracing the walls and educating the visitors (and the politicians who serve there). 
       Looking up through the dome to the floor above me, I spotted a mural painted by Mike Larsen, Flight of Spirit, honoring five ballerinas from Oklahoma, Yvonne Choteau, Moscelyne Larking, Roselia Hightower, and Maria and Marjorie Tallchief.

Mike Larsen's Flight of the Moons honoring the five ballerinas.
 Sequoyah, by Charles Banks Wilson.
Oil painting of Jim Thorpe.
State Capitol dome.
People look up into the dome, and they look down
to see the seal, admiringly, mostly.
Pastel colors around the dome, one hundred and forty gallons of paint.
Detail of the ceiling in the Supreme Court. 
At the front steps of the State Capitol,
the dome looms above a sculpture by Allan Houser,
As Long as the Waters Flow.
        A big hearty thanks to the Wichita County Heritage Society for organizing and hosting our visit to the Oklahoma State Capitol.
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Let Lovely Turn of Phrase Begin

JMHawley Gave Me a Kiss to Build a Dream On

Listen, will you? I think that . . . literature, poetry, music and love make the world go round . . . while mathematics explains things; I fill my life with them, then go walking in snowy woods.
Let us go then, you and I
like two etherized patients floating
through life, together feeling prufrockian.
DDB Jr. makes my world go 'round; during his absence, Pachelbel fills it up.
One summer I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, then through the Gulf of Finland to reach Saint Petersburg; I pursued Joseph Brodsky in its alley ways. I dream of making that two summers.
I read “Biking to Electra;” found my way in a Jaguar car, and glanced at the flashing steel grasshoppers at sunset. I’ll follow K.O.P.’s footsteps after he followed N.Scott Momaday’s; find warmth and inspiration on a rainy mountain.
Throw chinese coins for the I Ching.
Save the whales, the spotted owl, the woman in toil.
Cast a fly for trout; my memories of fly fishing under the sunny blue Colorado sky remain; I yearn to build more . . . with more trophy Browns.
Listen for the swan’s calls on the Baltic Sea. Feel KKII's joy, his arms spread wide in Yazilikaya.
Good night, Jimmy Durante, where ever you are.