Two Artists Move On

We're all feeling a little lonely this week; two long-time collaborators at the station are moving on. Both have worked here for decades. Both are brilliant artists. Steve Lukes is WPT's long-time lighting director. His wife, Shirwil Lukes, is one of WPT's scenic designers. Shirwil created so many gorgeous sets over the years: WEEKEND, Auction, Sewing with Nancy, Here and Now, Pledge, Democracy It Is!, 30 Minute Music Hour, and on and on. And Steve lit them. Wonderfully.

Their visual genius is there on tape for all to see. But what I'll remember most is their style of working: creative, industrious, and fun. There is a poem written every day by the way we work with others. Every day, Steve and Shirwil gave us something beautiful.

This poem by Marge Piercy describes them well.

To Be of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Marge Piercy