Strides takes the reader and viewer on meditative walks through a small plot of New York’s Hudson Valley where author Laurence Carr lives. With an eye to detail, these short personal essays and poems explore our relationship with the topography, vegetation, and animal life, along with the stone walls and structures often overlooked. Sometimes mystical, and sometimes whimsical, these pieces bring the spirit of the natural world to the reader.
Joined by artist Edward M. O’Hara who has added images based on his own nature walks, Strides creates a collaboration of word and image that connects reader and viewer to the world around us and to ourselves.
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Stand 14
tree watches the
stick fence and
understands the
weight of time to
turn itself to earth
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rock watches the
stone wall crack and
understands the
weight of time to
turn itself to dust.
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Edward M. O’Hara is a New York City born artist who creates
his art in the Hudson Valley. O’Hara studied art at Queens
College (1979-1981) and the Art Students League (2019).
He’s shown at ArtSpace-New Haven, Roost Arts-New Paltz, and
had a solo show at Wired Gallery–High Falls (2024).
nature and eternity.
http://www.oharaart.com, @edohara.art
Artist’s Statement
I avoid recognizable imagery, inviting the viewer to experience
the work without the articulation of a specific narrative.
My art intends to connect the audience to the universe in
a fresh and viscera way, revealing notions of the origins of
nature and eternity.
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(from Strides)
Leaf Raking
Repetitive motion should bring on contemplation, but here in
late autumn blank stares wed with blanker thoughts. Over and
over, the rake’s vertical strokes with its thin-tined oars with no
coxswain or finish line in sight.
Leaves uncounted sweep onto tarpaulin rugs then roll up like
Cleopatra gifted to a Roman tribune.
A dried and shriveled thin façade of former lives are
dumped into the leaf ditch or hauled into the leaf corral
awaiting the coming snow drifts who will shroud them out of sight.
We stand inside fogging the window with anticipation like at
a children’s birthday party dumbfounded at the magician’s
grand finale.
And with that same willing disbelief, the abracadabra of
springtime sun lifts the white linen to unveil a mound of
compost, dark and rich. An old conjurer’s trick that will
never be revealed.
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Laurence Carr, writer and publisher
Lightwood Press publishes Lightwood Magazine and books including: Furies’ Daughters by Gary Carr; On and Off the Beaten Path by Carole Bell Ford; and Where to Begin, poems by Gregory Abels. Strides: Reflections on 6 Acres and Paradise Loft, poems by Laurence Carr are co-published with CAPS Press. Visit at Lightwoodpress.com
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CALLING ALL POETS (CAPS, Mike Jurkovic, co-publisher)
“I have, over the course of CAPS’ twenty-five years, employed much
hyperbole and eloquent shadings both in the press and in person to
discuss our ideals, our perseverance, our ultimate goal. I’ve hy-
per-used such words and vague concepts like democratic forum,
free speech, community, camaraderie, open mic, diversity, etc.
But when you pare it down, as any poet should, it comes down to one
North Star constant.”
With Greg Correll, Book design and IT
Tell it. Mean it.
Make us wonder. Make us think.
Make us believe.
Welcome to the fold.
Mike Jurkovic – Prez, Calling All Poets Series and CAPS Press
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