Nostalgia

This acrylic painting on canvas panel measuring 8" x 10" was published both physically as an installment in the Hart Gallery in Williamsburg and in print as a part of The Gallery Literary Magazine Fall 2023 Issue. The piece is inspired by the etymological origins of the word "nostalgia" as indicative of an actual and psychological home sickness, as well as a poem of the same name which reads as follows:

There is something in me that is too harsh,
Too rough, the weathered sailor, that offends.
The stink of fish and the stale scent of home
The furrowed eyebrows and wide mouth that swears,
That blames Providence for my misfortune.
There is something in me that enforces,
My isolation and my other-ness.
Shifty eyes that speak lies, not the honesty I seek.
Shuffling feet that sound against hollow wood.
I just want to go home.
Back to where the wind rushes through me,
Where the salt air makes my hair soft,
A clean scent.
I yearn for the comp’ny of my brethren
Who stand alongside me
Who pull their own weight and share in the pain
Those who will ne’er return
For, they don’t miss the land, they miss the sea.