I lived in Augusta, Georgia with my family for 8 years when Ric was a professor at the Allied Health department of Georgia Medical College. 

Balking at a full time teaching assignment after I taught full time the previous18 years, I signed up for NEA sponsored artist–in–residence programs with both Georgia and S.Carolina. I figured that with the half day studio/teaching set up of residencIes, I would have more time to paint and get my work into galleries in Atlanta.

The first year of this residency work put 20,000 miles on my brand new pickup. I had a lot of driving and thinking to do when I would go to towns all over the two states. I got to know a lot of wonderful Southerners, 
hardworking teachers and polite (mostly) kids.

And this poem came out of my musings as I drove along the highways of Georgia and S. Carolina.

The Day the Animals Returned    

Outside of Johnson City, I noticed
clusters of deer on the median.
And snakes; copperheads, rattlesnakes
undulating east, three rows abreast,
 all the way to Batesburg.

When I arrived at the high school, 
four or five  bears were hunched 
on the roofs of early cars.
 I tripped over alligators 
in the stairwell.
Possums hung in clumps 
along the railings.

Classes were impossible. Students 
could barely move for all the foxes.
Fox tracks across the drawing papers,
Fox tails drabbling paint.

I taught a lesson in analogous orange,
burnt siena, Van Dyke brown and scarlet.
Students painted thin white lines
on the colors, like pointed teeth.

Tonight I’m stranded in a cheap motel.
Badgers march on the freeways
and starlings jam the phones.
My room is filled with egrets
and moles convene in my mattress.

The news on the room TV
shows raccoons in green fatigues
halting cars at random checkpoints.

Tomorrow I’ll drive 
the backroads home.      

Jennifer Carrasco

Jennifer Carrasco is a longtime West Seattle resident and internationally recognized muralist whose work combines historical depth, mythic storytelling, and botanical elegance. With decades of experience painting large-scale trompe l’oeil and chinoiserie murals for clients ranging from Tommy Bahama to private collectors, she brings a distinctive Northwest voice to decorative arts. Her artistic journey has taken her from Peace Corps service and teaching in the Philippines to NEA residencies across the globe, and long ago she chose to make West Seattle her home.