Pairings Matted Set - This open edition print and poem set is matted and ready to frame. The paper size is 8.5 x 11 inches, and the overall, matted size is approximately 14 x 18 inches.

Philip Conkling’s accompanying poem . . .

My Fate

The mooring line is slack enough, 
The tide’s drained down the bay.
The island spruce just lit enough,
To cast off for another day.

I know ever’ inch of this boat,
And the yard where I got her.
What she’ll do and what she won’t --
I named her for my daughter.

It used to be you set your gear
And tended traps by the shore.
The fishing deal is pretty clear,
You go hard to make more.

Storms at sea, I can weather --
You watch the sky, feel the swell,
And how birds flock together.
But then last fall, it went to hell,

And hasn’t gotten better.
Never thought there’d come a day
When I feared to be a debtor-
Hauling to keep the bank away.

Overhead the glowing rush 
Washes heavens in belief.
Will the season bring relief?
My fate’s in hands I trust.