Compliments and a Full Complement

going fishing
           —after brian andreas, from It’s Fish for Compliments Day

fish-for-compliments day is the best, she says.
totally, he says. we never run out of compliments.
your gardens are spectacular, she says.
he says, i love your sexy legs.
nobody surpasses you at offering countless options, she says.
you excel at cost-per-wear with your clothes, he says.
you’re an expert, she says, at changing your clothes all day long.
you are tops at using the passenger brake pedal when i drive, he says.
she says, kudos to you for your sink trap food blindness.
wait, he says, have we just run out?

she laughs. 
                        never! she says.

—dotty seiter

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Notes on poem and art:
• I had a grand time “going fishing” for some of the affectionate banter in this poem, reflecting as it does a long-standing committed relationship. I’m grateful to Brian Andreas for A Story Every Day from Flying Edna in my email inbox, and for the particular story that prompted this poem.
• With the completion of Speaking the Ineffable, I now have a full complement of blackberry lily color swatches. Last year I captured this plant at two stages in its life cycle but both stages were post-flowering (see below); now, a year later, I finally captured this garden favorite in bloom! I’ve chosen to pair examples from my color swatches series here with today’s poem because the paintings represent a melding of Dave’s gardening and my painting, two pursuits of ours that complement each other beautifully and, as you may have surmised, because the poem is also Dave-and-Dotty centric (in its compliments) : )



10 responses to “Compliments and a Full Complement”

  1. First thanks for the link to Brian. Signed up for stories…. love short simple stories… love his comic like drawings!

    Love your poem about your banter with Dave… and the compliments… also nice to give and receive! Even when a bit ironic!

    Love the swatch series…. at first thought it was a tiger lily… not familiar with blackberry lily. Those color swatches ….. I am always in awe..

    Would it be alright to download them and sort of make a folder named Dotty’s Color swatches to view all the color combinations?

    So wonderful that you have the various stages of their development. Waiting for the all the fall colors, something I really miss.

    Funny the blog recognizes me but to comment I have to log in to comment. When I view on chrome top right says reader carol lee with my small avatar.

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    1. I really enjoy A Story Every Day from Flying Edna, a colorful, thoughtful, upbeat, and optimistic little pop of fizz at the start of each day.

      The banter with Dave in my poem was fun to write—just had to include the ironic and underhanded to keep the poem honest, and to show that we can laugh at our foibles : )

      We are very taken by the brightness and beauty of blackberry lilies. Relative to tiger lily: At up to 5 or 6 inches across, a tiger lily bloom is more than double the size of a blackberry lily blossom, which usually tops out at around 2 inches wide.
      Because tiger lily petals curl dramatically backward into a “turk’s cap” shape and hang face-down, they appear thick and substantial. Blackberry lily blooms are delicate, open flat to the sky, and only last a single day.

      In answer to your question about downloading and making a folder named Dotty’s Color swatches to view all the color combinations—sure!

      I was very excited this summer to finally paint up color swatches for the blackberry lily in bloom!

      I’m not tech savvy enough to know on my own why WordPress makes you log in to comment. I’ll see what I can find out.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. In incognito mode! Logging in! I see Howdy carol lee and my avatar and I am able to reply.

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        1. I see My avatar so I am able to comment! Thanks

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  2. This made me laugh out loud….Fabulous Full Complement of Complements poem. Paul could also be complimented on his food trap blindness!

    Love that you’ve come full circle with your blackberry lily. These paintings ARE the perfect complement to Dave’s gardening. Well done!

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    1. Love that you laughed out loud—the perfect comliment, and happily received! I laughed out loud at your pointing out Paul’s also having food trap blindness!

      Thanks for enjoying my color swatch garden paintings along with me (and Dave). I’ve printed and framed many of the photos of them, i.e. the photos that feature both color swatches and actual garden flower. My current project is to mount the actual 3×3″ color swatches on 3×3″ blocks of wood that can be tucked and rearranged in all sorts of nooks and crannies in our home

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  3. Love this poem! Let’s install such a fish for complimenets day! (I also like the ‘cost-per-wear’-thing. I excel in this too ;-)! (Is that a compliment? I don’t know…;-). And lovely to see your little squares back.

    >

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    1. Simone, hello! Happy to hear that you love this poem; it was such fun to write. LOL at your parenthetical question asking if the cost-per-wear thing is a compliment! I see it as something of high value; I suspect Dave thinks otherwise, or at least places higher value on purchasing new items often : )

      I am still in love with painting those little watercolor squares! Thank you.

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  4. oh my GOODNESS! Hooray for the watercolor squares! And a full cycle of the blackberry lily! Spectacular!

    And your poem, this little peek into Dotty/Dave and sweet banter, just melts my heart. Love this. You made my morning! xoxox

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    1. Hey, Lola, indeed: hooray for the watercolor squares! I don’t think I was fully aware last summer that blackberry lilies send each bloom out for only one day (daylilies!), so I’d see plenty on a given day and think I had plenty of time to paint one. Oops—not! So I snagged one lickety-split this summer. And now I’ve got the full set I wanted!

      The D/D banter was very enjoyable to capture, and it was fun to play with that balance we’ve talked about previously between tender and snark : )

      xoxo

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My Story

In 2014, I grab an unexpected opportunity to paint.

To make art.

I get hooked.

In 2015 I start a blog—a diary of my creative practice.

I post my paintings and their stories. The good, the bad, the ugly.

In 2025 I begin writing poetry and include a poem and painting in each post.

My compass points: shake hands with fear, be playful, get messy, trust my gut.

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