tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42843273105755337512024-03-12T18:06:07.854-07:00Ekphrastic CaliforniaJohn Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-26032924584408955522016-03-02T15:56:00.001-08:002016-03-02T15:56:09.977-08:00Hi everyone, I really enjoyed doing this while I could, but I've really been swamped at work in a lot of wonderful ways. I've loved these months of poetry. I'll leave this up for a while. I wish you all well and I thank you for your work!John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-40538581905987075082016-02-21T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-21T00:00:24.455-08:00February 21 -- Patricia Wellingham-Jones<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>In the Eye of the
Beholder</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN"> The Wild Swan</span></i><i><span lang="EN">, </span></i><span lang="EN">oil on canvas painting by Alexander Pope, 1900, De
Young Museum<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the museum wall<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a swan, head down, hangs<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
against a dark green door,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
its wings a white fan of entreaty,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
head dangling on the long slender neck.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before the image stands a child,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
there as part of a generous school gift.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her eyes reflect a darkness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that should be unknown,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
her mouth a circle of horror.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The small girl tries to melt<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into the big girl solid behind her,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
clutches her stomach,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
struggles not to cry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sponsor turns away,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
never pictured what might happen<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
when he gave the inner-city children<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
their first experience in fine art.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27The_Wild_Swan%27_by_Alexander_Pope,_1900.JPG">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27The_Wild_Swan%27_by_Alexander_Pope,_1900.JPG</a><o:p></o:p></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-23225026229082366732016-02-20T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-20T00:00:08.930-08:00February 20 -- Patricia Wellingham-Jones<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Two figures</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>from the painting,
It’s You, by Caitlin Schwerin</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Greyed, two figures<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
walk out of the frame,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
across the frayed writing,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
their history fading behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They stroll through a meadow<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into a gold haze.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The large figure tilts his head<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as if listening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not the companion’s <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
voice he hears. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His ears catch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the sound of the sun.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Feet skimming lush green grass<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
they wander into their new world,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
sun behind their shoulders<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
warming their gaunt forms,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
their long bones. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The writing, the writing,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the story of lives<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
left behind. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They amble, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
arms empty,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
faces blank,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
out of the jumble of their broken lives<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
forward<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
propelled by the sun.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.caitlinschwerin.com/gallery.php?gallery=Figurative&current=404">http://www.caitlinschwerin.com/gallery.php?gallery=Figurative&current=404</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Published in <i>Medusa’s
Kitchen</i>, 2008<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-52958320169236501242016-02-19T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-19T00:00:00.222-08:00February 19 -- Patricia Wellingham-Jones<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mongolian Art Exhibit</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“whatever holds value
may be divine…”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My eye pulls my feet <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
through artifacts gathered<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
from thousands of years ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I gaze at the human skull—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
silver-lined, translucent <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
brown thin-ness. I ponder core stones <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
flaked for hunting and tools.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hear the primordial sound <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of the cosmos hum in my ear. <st1:place w:st="on"><i>Om</i></st1:place><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
resonates in the crevices of my brain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In vain I look for pictures of a people<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
who still traverse wind-laden steppes,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
live out their nomad lives<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in gray wool-felt shelters, take pride<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in fleet and sturdy horses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I turn a corner, stunned now by faces<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
on the wall—masks of deities, shamans, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
in papier-mâché, carved wood, stuffed skin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Black brows pull down over glaring eyes,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
red mouths stretch in snarls or gentle smiles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I draw near the image of the Heart Shaman,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
likened to great poets of all the ages,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
born only once each one hundred years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The face I dream about <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
is a very old woman, the essence of sorrow. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Forehead furrowed, eyes close to weeping,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
her ear-lobes hang past her shoulders,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
corners of the full mouth droop <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to her chin—the Brain Shaman. She can see<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into the next thousand years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Published in <i>Ink &
Ashes</i>, 2005<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-88169632987499859912016-02-18T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-18T00:00:13.978-08:00February 18 -- Richard Westland<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, by Lucien Freud</span></strong></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="line-height: normal;" /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">BIG SUE TILLEY</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="line-height: normal;" /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lucian Freud, grandson of Sigmund</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(the historically recognized great psychiatrist, the Grandfather of psychoanalysis)</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I only saw his portrait of a fleshy woman because</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I was checking the auction price of Michel Compte’s</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Nude portrait of a lithesome Carla Bruni</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Holding her heart down low</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sold on the same day</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At the same auction</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><br style="line-height: normal;" /><span style="line-height: normal;">Lucian got the biggest price</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For his immense fleshy lady</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">More than any live painter had ever received.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What was the purchaser thinking?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Was it Oedipal complex,</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Or was there beauty here?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe his mother was fat.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My mother was not fat.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />What is the appeal?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanted, had to have</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A copy of that painting</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To accompany my Carla picture.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="line-height: normal;" /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Was it the amazing contrast</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Grandpa Freud’s theory that all men want to seduce their mothers,</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Or just the reality of this lady</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Big Sue Tilley</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A British civil servant</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Presented against</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The dream</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="line-height: normal;" /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of first lady, Carla Sarkozy…</span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="line-height: normal;" /><span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><br style="line-height: normal;" /><span style="line-height: normal;">Big Sue Tilley</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="background-color: white; line-height: 13.3333px; margin-bottom: 0.23in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Richard Westland, a native Londoner, immigrated to America when he was 25 years old. He began writing poetry as a way to put his life story into print. He has published a chapbook "I'm Glad I'm Here", and his memoir, "Breaking the Code of Silence". Richard lives in Southern California.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><br /></span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-24766083644403542622016-02-17T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-17T00:00:29.278-08:00February 17 -- Gerald Locklin<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Edward Hopper: <i>People
in the Sun, 1960<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Two middle-aged people, in business attire,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Relaxing in their perfectly aligned<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Folding wooden deck chairs,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Ponder whether or not to be alarmed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
By the horizon of either foothills or azure waves,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
That seem to be advancing towards them<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Like a scene out of <i>Macbeth</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Across the meadow floor of level hay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Behind them a more casually clothed young man<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Finds more interesting than daylight<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The only written text on view among<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
These people in the sun.
The artist obviously loves<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The opportunity to estimate the comparative lengths<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of the elongated shadows, which never let the people<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of the sun forget the injunction to <i>memento mori.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The sun giveth life and taketh it away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So far I’ve only had one melanoma—superficial, diagnosed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Early, and quickly removed. I’m convinced that my years<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of swimming without sunblock were less to blame<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Than the radiation treatments the best dermatologists<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In my home town fired into my facial glands to mitigate<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A near-Bukowskian onslaught of acne that dampened<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The social pleasures of my teenaged years.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
For now, though, the geometrically ordered “X-es”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of the legs of the deck chairs and their shadows<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Bear false witness to the order we think we are<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Capable of imposing on the universe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-29660115925613216712016-02-16T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-16T00:00:10.205-08:00February 16 -- Gerald Locklin<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Edward Hopper: <i>Bass Rocks. 1924</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A distinguishing feature of this work<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Is that there are no rocks in it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I suppose there must be some in the water,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And maybe some bass to be caught near them,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
But there is only an inkling of the shore in it,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And a whipped-cream topping of some waves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Most of the space is occupied by the sky-pastel-blue<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Overhead, and the sun-whitened sand underneath,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
And the cloudy white of the horizon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There are a few bathers, heavily armored against<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The sun’s harmful rays. And the air was probably<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Seasonally chilled as well. There are three umbrellas,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Two deck chairs, and a surprisingly diverse smattering<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of human beings, in a variety of hats and caps.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What I learn is that wearing a hat myself,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Or a Yankees’ cap, might have spared me the plague of<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Basal Cell Carcinomas with which I am now afflicted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some fresh sea air might not have hurt my damaged lungs<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Either. Oh, yeah,
and we also learn that the exposure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Of an American artist to European Impressionism—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Some study in France, for instance--<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Did not automatically foster the production of<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A Major Period in even a Major Artist’s career.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-3327428246964570742016-02-15T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-15T00:00:06.768-08:00February 15 -- Gerald Locklin<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Edward Hopper:
<i>The Yellow House, 1923</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">This
one actually seems to be two houses, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Facing
in different directions, the way that,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In
<i>Ulysses</i>, Leopold Bloom and Molly
slept,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Foot
to face, which, it’s said, James Joyce himself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Slept
with Nora Barnacle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Big Yellow House has two windows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">With
the shades drawn on the second floor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To
resemble human eyes. The smaller house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Has
one window, like a Cyclops whose eye <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is
in the back of his head. At any rate,
these two<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Structures
had both directions under surveillance,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And
a grizzly mouth, and a Tom Sawyer fence, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Behind
the smaller one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Van
Gogh painted a <i>Yellow House</i> also, and
he did not<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Give
it a Halloween face because he would probably<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Have
welcomed the occasional visitor. But
they seldom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Came,
and Gauguin abandoned the sinking sanity,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And
we all know how that worked out, good only for<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
lucky few who snapped up the posthumous canvases<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Before
the professional collectors came to their jaded<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Senses<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-39798898435167334642016-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-14T00:00:20.994-08:00February 14 -- Gerald Locklin<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Edward Hopper:
<i>The Yellow House, 1923</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">This
one actually seems to be two houses, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Facing
in different directions, the way that,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In
<i>Ulysses</i>, Leopold Bloom and Molly
slept,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Foot
to face, which, it’s said, James Joyce himself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Slept
with Nora Barnacle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
Big Yellow House has two windows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">With
the shades drawn on the second floor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To
resemble human eyes. The smaller house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Has
one window, like a Cyclops whose eye <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is
in the back of his head. At any rate,
these two<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Structures
had both directions under surveillance,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And
a grizzly mouth, and a Tom Sawyer fence, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Behind
the smaller one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Van
Gogh painted a <i>Yellow House</i> also, and
he did not<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Give
it a Halloween face because he would probably<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Have
welcomed the occasional visitor. But
they seldom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Came,
and Gauguin abandoned the sinking sanity,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And
we all know how that worked out, good only for<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
lucky few who snapped up the posthumous canvases<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Before
the professional collectors came to their jaded<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Senses<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-36430809752078574942016-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-13T00:00:06.990-08:00February 13 -- Gerald Locklin<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Edward
Hopper: <i>South Truro Post Office, I, 1930</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Isn’t
the original Truro in Cornwall, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
broad peninsula of craggy ports and harbors,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
coves that tempted pirates and smugglers,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
spies from the continent?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
place looks a lot more peaceful,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Though
awfully isolated. The few locals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Couldn’t
have generated much work for<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
skeleton crew, but Hopper wouldn’t<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
year have wasted much effort on them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
the field had been ‘full of folk.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
now we may be about to eliminate, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Or
drastically reduce, the number of postal employees<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
our own era of the smart phone, and the dumbed down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Communications.
Even our greeting cards—our Valentines,
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">for
God’s sake—are exchanged online.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our
most intimate connections with each other<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Are
like, for instance, when the woman roaring up to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
I sat waiting for a light to change at an intersection,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Looked up from texting, in my rear-view
mirror,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Too
late to avoid skidding, unbraked, into my modest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ford
Focus: “Shiver Me Timbers, lads,”
indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
an educator, I’m pretty sure our eloquence—if not<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
our literacy—has fallen off a cliff since we gave up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">On
the English language about the same time we also<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Abandoned
foreign and classical language study<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
favor of the social “sciences” and cranial purification<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fifty-five
years ago. As Ring Lardner would have
said,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You
can look it up!” Yes, R-I-N-G . . . oh,
never mind!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">During
his impressionistic period, Edward Hopper<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Was
more interested in isolated, unoccupied,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Brick
buildings than windows with companionless<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Women
staring out of them anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
for books, even after the last one is burned,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Forests
will still morph into hard copies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-21223664774326968092016-02-12T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-12T00:00:10.034-08:00February 12 -- Gerald Locklin<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Edward
Hopper: <i>Sugar Maple, 1938<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
poets all seem to love Edward Hopper,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
do all his paintings deserve equal adulation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
<i>Pomegranate 2016 Edward Hopper Calendar</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Informs
us that the Hopper of this period,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Having
returned from Europe enthusiastic only<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">About
the possibilities of Impressionism.
Affirmed,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I
like long shadows and late sunlight . . . I am trying<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
paint sunlight without eliminating the form<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Under
it, if I can.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
what about the humans for which he is most famous, especially<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Women
often alone, perhaps staring out a window, or slumped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">On
the edge of a solitary bed in a sparely furnished room?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">White
paint occupies about a quarter of this canvas, but<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
seems to be just one big cloud with little relation to any<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Absent
solar source. There are no people or
even animals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Represented. I learn little or nothing about the trees’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Surrounding
soil, grass, and rocks, except that light and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shadows
create shades of green and yellow leaves,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">And,
without them,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> a trunk simply remains black.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
whole damn scene is pretty blurry. I
wouldn’t want<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
look at it up close or for too long. And
I have no idea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What
labor draws the sap from the tree, nor are my<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Taste
buds stimulated. I am reminded of the
Cezanne<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Who
fell in love with deep structures, as the human factor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Abandoned
his very still lifes for the livelier world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Depicted
by his friend, contemporary, and, often,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Companion
at their easels: Pissarro. And much as I hate to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Admit
it; in this period, at least, our greatest American painter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Was
not the equal of the Frenchman, Monet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-55017635387438195722016-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-11T00:00:29.497-08:00February 11 -- Grace Marie Grafton<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Dragon and the Phoenix</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Neither male nor female, both lovers have</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">wings. Still believe in</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the moon's animal-like</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">shift through trees</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">as the basic wood of reality.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How the Pacific surf gnarls</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">ears and noses into the sandstone</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">it washes, day and night.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How the turtle hides under the glyphs</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">of its shell and sings</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">mud into being.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Don't explain yourself, Lover.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't want to see your teeth.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You have admired </span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">my pomegranate lipstick,</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the scarlet tear painted on my cheek,</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the redolent hue of my tangerine horns.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have admired the harlequin pattern</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">on your breasts, thrilled</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to your claws' scrape</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">on my featherless hide.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We won't think of the future.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I won't think of you losing your</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">feathers or growing the stone</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in your craw.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You won't hear my dry night cough</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">or notice the peeling patch</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">on my skin.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's drag the folding chairs</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">out to the mushroom field.</span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How the epiphytic Spanish moss</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">snares the live oak trees in the canyon,</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">how the hoarfrost congeals</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">on the wild oat stems</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to break, finally, what it regales.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Seeds have fallen.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Beauty is wanton.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> to Julie Bamberger's "The Final Romance"</span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-24705420573116976172016-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-10T00:00:20.138-08:00February 10 - Grace Marie Grafton<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Spring equinox</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What gets made in early spring,</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">before the gold columns of summer</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">grow fat and bully</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the crones of change into surrender?</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A thousand circles of etiquette</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">usher next-of-kin into</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the ceremony of upheaval.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The contained no longer</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">submits, each mote</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">seeks its own sway.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The yellow witch of the east</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(oh, can you see</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">her snakes race before her?)</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">stirs up the humus, foments</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">rebellion, demands sex.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And she is so beautiful,</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">so beautiful, what in this world</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">would deny her?</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> to Julie L. Khan's "Closer"</span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-47185268774925061292016-02-09T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-09T00:00:15.413-08:00February 9 -- Grace Marie Grafton<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Gold trees</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is where she stood</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">with her imperfect vision refusing</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to wear glasses she trusted</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">something bending into</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">her the way water</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">bends the body's image. </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She wanted to paint this</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">part of the morning even though</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">it meant surrendering </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">much of her vocabulary</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the way the sea wind blurs</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">palm fronds together,</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the way the sea</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">charms the depths into</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">fishlessness. Whatever she knew</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">blended, not exactly the way</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">red fallen maple leaves</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">lie in November at the bottom</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">of the fish pond, </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">clumped over each other,</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">December sediment a dank</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">speckled breath where the leaves</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">were. What is her vision</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">worth? The blackbirds rise</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">out of the alfalfa field</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">first as individual</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">birds then as a kind of</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">moving blot, negative</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">against the sky whose color</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">is indistinguishable.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Someday she will place</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">her hand on the canvas</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and paint that part of the picture</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">on her skin, when she raises</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">it off she will see the outline</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">of her true form.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> to Patricia Friend's "44th St. Hill"</span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-86112604748730316572016-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-08T00:00:08.629-08:00February 8 -- Grace Marie Grafton<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Womb</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To enter the heat of that room,</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">undress slowly and watch her</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">edges disappear. She dreamed about</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">gold and how hard you must press</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">into the earth to open the vein.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At first it seemed easy, a magic</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">finger pointed in the right direction</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">between two eyes and the bones</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">of the pelvis. Then she realized</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">it took years of practice to find the opening</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and how to operate the drill.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To empty, sit and apply the veil.</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">First she couldn't look into</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the light even underground it was</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">too blinding. She feared it would never</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">let her go, wanted to say at the last</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">minute (before the floor broke through</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and everything began to rush),</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Wait, I haven't thought it through."</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> to Diane Darrow, "Womb Wonder"</span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-16196562151122188652016-02-07T17:54:00.000-08:002016-02-07T17:54:06.154-08:00February 7 -- Thomas Thomas<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paul Klee </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cat and Bird</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">bird nests</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">above the cat's eye</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">free in danger</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-----</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Piet Mondrian White </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rose in a Glass</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">rose drinking its last</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">draught of life - bathed within</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">severe orange fire</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-----</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frederic Edwin Church</span><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The iceberg</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">tiny ship towered</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">over by small iceberg</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in little ocean</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">insignificant planet</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">speck of solar system</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-----</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Edgar Degas </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Laundry Girls Ironing</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to cloud the pain</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">hasten the rush to death</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">escape life</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-----</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pablo Picasso </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Le Vieux Roi</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">power distorts</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">turns beauty - satisfaction</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">unobtainable</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-----</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Georges Seurat </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Angelica at the rock (After ingres)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in this shame</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">eternity dressed</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">with your wealth</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-----</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Blake's prints on Milton's Paradise Lost</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Satan watches</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Adam and Eve adoring embrace</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jealous of love</span></span></div>
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John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-6178083029167787292016-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-06T00:00:24.290-08:00February 6 -- Don Kingfisher Campbell<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Source of inspiration:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__76f7aa87-a2b2-49be-824e-4d2327348813__href="http://www.wired.com/2014/11/calacademy-bigpicture-photos-planet-earth/?mbid=social_fb#slide-9" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://www.wired.com/2014/11/calacademy-bigpicture-photos-planet-earth/?mbid=social_fb#slide-9</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Photographers and titles of their photos:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Paul Souders “The Luckiest Penguin”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Scott Marmer “Leap of Faith”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Alex Varani “The Boxer and Its Eggs”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">4)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Emmanuel Rondeau “Rhino Bodyguards”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">5)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Graham McGeorge “Master of Disguise”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">6)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Morgan Heim “Beast in the Garden”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">7)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Paul Souders “The Ice Bear”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">8)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pal Hermansen “Attack”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">9)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ray Collins “Snow-Capped Mountain”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">10)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ben Cranke “Reach for the Stars”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">11)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Luciano Candisani “Sustainable But Threatened”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">12)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Josh Anon “Aurora Over Lagoon”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">13)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Todd Bretl “Bobtail Summetry”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">14)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Emanuel Biggi “Curvy king”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">15)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Russell Laman “Seals On Iceberg”</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">On a Planet Where</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A penguin leaps away from a seal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A wildebeest jumps into a river</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A boxer crab belly holds its hundred orange eggs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A white rhinoceros is protected by rifle-toting soldiers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">An owl blends into a tree’s bark</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A mountain lion nighthunts a wood-decked backyard</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A polar bear dives between ice floes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A taloned sparrowhawk attacks a jay</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">An ocean wave mistaken for a snow-capped mountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bare trees like zombies reach up at night to the stars</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A goggled boy floats in clear shallow ocean seeking starfish to place in his lipped plastic bowl</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">An aurora borealis streaks pink over an icy blue lagoon</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A bobtail squid has eight curling symmetrical arms lined with nodules</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A hook-horned Alpine ibex stares down from a cliff ledge</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Seals sleep on an iceberg in Antarctica</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some humans internet search for nature photos to post on their Facebook feeds</span></div>
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<br /></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-55040506093944452942016-02-05T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-05T00:00:08.624-08:00February 5 -- Kathleen McClung<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Carol Greene, <i>Self-Portrait</i>, 2009</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">You paint not troubled souls but harmony:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Calm, bare-armed girl, first flute. Gray-goateed man</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">in white shirt, humming, burps a grandbaby.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">You smile in aqua turtleneck. I can</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">imagine how you tucked your photograph</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">beside this canvas, looked long, listened, chose</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">a slender brush, embarked on song of self:</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">One shadowed cheek, one bright. Peach hues for nose.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Reflected glints in oval lenses. Eyes—</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">like Alice’s, like mine— the useful blue</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">of ocean, sky, and wing that shimmer, rise,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">and blur beyond your studio, same blue</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">as backdrop cradling white crown, each wrinkle, fold</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">of flesh. New, lilting hymn to women’s faces, old.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: small; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Previously published as Sonnet 7 of “Lighter than Her Lace: A Crown of Borrowed Self-Portraits” in Unsplendid’s July 2014 double issue on women and form 5.3 + 6.1 </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.unsplendid.com/" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.unsplendid.com" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">www.unsplendid.com</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Carol Greene lives and paints in San Jose, California. Her portraits may be viewed at </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.carolgreene.org/home/paintings" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.carolgreene.org/home/paintings" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">www.carolgreene.org/home/paintings</a></span></span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-49913926329109162562016-02-04T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-04T00:00:23.467-08:00February 4 -- Kathleen McClung<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Behind the White Bird</span></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> after Tatiana Lyskova’s painting, “White Bird,” 2008</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Which one of us</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">holds tighter—you,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">timid cockatiel, tall</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">as a snowman, crown</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">of green tendrils</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">curving above our heads?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Or me,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">ruby red party dress</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">spraying past</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">my hairless thighs</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">into our kaleidoscope</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">of a room?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Entranced, claw</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">to wrist, I give you</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">a secret name,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">whisper into your ear</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">a charm, a promise</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">I will break.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">One palm</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">sinks in feathers,</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">the other, chiffon.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">My lips, for now, press</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">only your white pillow skull.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">We do not fly or sing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Previously published in <i>Ekphrasis</i>, Fall/Winter 2013</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">“White Bird” may be viewed at </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.tatianalyskova.com/" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.tatianalyskova.com" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">www.tatianalyskova.com</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Kathleen McClung is the author of <em>Almost the Rowboat</em> (Finishing Line Press, 2013) and her award-winning work appears widely in journals and anthologies. She teaches at Skyline College and the Writing Salon and serves as judge for the sonnet category of the Soul-Making Keats literary competition. A native of California, she lives in San Francisco. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.kathleenmcclung.com" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">www.kathleenmcclung.com</a></span></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" removedlink__2fb41b58-5088-4254-b63d-696b5d78f36f__href="http://www.kathleenmcclung.com" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><br /></a></div>
</div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-62682548581073020732016-02-03T17:40:00.000-08:002016-02-03T17:40:01.091-08:00February 3 -- Neil Ellman<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Early Sunday Morning</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(Edward Hopper, painting)</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the seventh day</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">of the seventh month</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in a six-day town</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the stores are shuttered</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and window shades drawn.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It is another early Sunday morning</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">without a sun</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and the people have abandoned</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">their everyday lives</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">for their faith</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">or an extra hour of sleep.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Chop Suey</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(Edward Hopper, painting)</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The streets are filled</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">with those who wonder</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">where they have been.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">while the two of us</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">who eat Chop Suey</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in Chinatown</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">at 11:00 pm</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">ponder what it will be like</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">at the end of time.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Nighthawks</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(Edward Hopper, painting)</span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Nighthawks speak</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">in the dim of night</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">alight where few can hear</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">their conversations</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">with the dark—</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">plaintiff questions</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">without an answer or a sound.</span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-86433491974782481622016-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-02T00:00:11.942-08:00February 2 -- B. J. Buckley<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">ANGELUS
NOVUS,<em> Paul Klee, 1930/32</em><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last night I saw the angel in the pines,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
nearly naked, shivering (icy rain<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
fell in torrents), her heavy wings sodden,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
barred like an owl's, blown back and wide open<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
by merciless wind – as if hovering –<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
hands skin and bone, clenched talons, eyes glaring<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
gold. From her beautiful mouth, scorched singing:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
grief and desolation, flayed bell ringing,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a body by voice cracked too far open<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to ever be closed again. The sodden<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
branches were a wreath around her, a nest:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
her owl eyes, gold, and blood wet on her breast,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
this new angel, orphaned out of heaven,<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
into the mortal reign of history, fallen.<o:p></o:p></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-38390301846607492592016-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-01T00:00:01.752-08:00February 1 -- B.J. Buckley<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times","serif";">MONDRIAN IN
MONTANA<br />
<br />
He'd be at home<br />
in that scar-sharp stretch of fence<br />
drawing pasture,<br />
in the ache<br />
of boundary: stone<br />
against earth against<br />
post against wire tensioned up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times","serif";">to breaking:<br />
black barbs, red<br />
dirt, yellow grass,<br />
blue<br />
(even the sky) squared<br />
in a measured frame<br />
of vision,<br />
the canvas<br />
snow<br />
or cloud:<br />
transcendent tyranny<br />
of field,<br />
corner,<br />
line.</span><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-73308388263840111442016-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:002016-01-31T00:00:10.316-08:00January 31 -- Cherise Wyneken<h1 class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2531">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Sculpture Park </span></h1>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2543">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A crisp and cloud-specked day</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2545">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">we walked the city through</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2547">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to Oslo’s Frogner Park.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2557">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A pastime.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2559">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Instead we lit on life:</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2561">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">love of living,</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2563">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">faith in family.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2565">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">One hundred fifty statuaries</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2567">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">by Gustav Vigeland.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2569">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2573">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Across the bridge</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2575">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">posed on a parapet,</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2577">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">bronze statue people move</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2579">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and shout – celebrating joy.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2581">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Life cycles in bas relief</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2583">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">surround the central fountain.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2585">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Wrought iron children</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2587">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">climb wrought iron trees</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2589">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">frosted from the fountain’s spray.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2591">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They smile and climb in happy play.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2593">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2597">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A rise of stairs</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2599">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">through iron entrance gates</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2601">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to granite people,</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2603">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">speaking pain and pleasure.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2605">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Speaking love.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2607">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Speaking children.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2609">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Speaking mother’s comfort</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2611">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">to a son who’s grieving.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2613">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2617">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Carved eyes</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2619">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">with pity, laughter, love.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2621">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Caressing hands, reaching out,</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2623">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">flecks of granite –</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2625">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">freckles on their flesh.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2627">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2631">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I could sail forever</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2633">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">on Norway’s fair fjords</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2637">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and never find the wonder</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2639">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Vigeland’s work affords.</span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2641">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2645">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">* TOUCHSTONES, Winston-Derek Publishers, Inc. (No longer publishing) </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2438">
</div>
<div class="" dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2653" style="margin-left: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2437">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2428">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.authorsden.comcherisewyneken%20/" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">http://www.authorsden.comcherisewyneken </a>;</span></div>
<div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449082543390_2428">
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/poetry-in-oakland/cherise-wyneken" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.examiner.com/poetry-in-oakland/cherise-wyneken</span></a></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-3978271872383601682016-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:002016-01-30T00:00:03.323-08:00January 30 -- Anne Harding Woodworth<div class="yiv3882498640" dir="ltr" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2608">
<span class="yiv3882498640"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2724">
<b class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2726">Gestation in Jade</b></div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2730">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2734">
The elephant’s sides, rounded</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2738">
with circular latticework,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2742">
are windows into her belly,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2746">
where the infant looks out,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2750">
as if eager to leave the mother-ribs.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2754">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2758">
We lose serenity at times,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2762">
when the fill of an inner hollow</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2766">
seems out of reach and uncarvable.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2770">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2774">
Diminutive tools play awkward</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2778">
in the task of sculpting a uterine image.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2782">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2786">
But the unborn ask us to be patient,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2790">
prenatal duty being only slightly instinctive.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2794">
We eventually learn delicacy, knowing</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2798">
a mother and her fetus<a class="yiv3882498640" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2800" name="_GoBack" rel="nofollow" removedlink__348022cc-8977-4e62-8da8-13ebc9e18e10__href="about:blank" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"></a> are all of one piece.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2798">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2798">
<br /></div>
</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" dir="ltr" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2608">
<span class="yiv3882498640"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" dir="ltr" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2608">
<span class="yiv3882498640" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449167389217_9951"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anne Harding Woodworth is the author of five books of poetry and three chapbooks, with a fourth, <b>The Last Gun</b>, coming out in 2016. Her work is in published in journals at home (TriQuarterly, Painted Bride Quarterly) and abroad (Antigonish Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, Crannog), print and on line (Innisfree Poetry Journal, Punchnel's). She lives in Washington, D.C., where she is a member of the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="yiv3882498640"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284327310575533751.post-81482305755729014502016-01-29T00:00:00.000-08:002016-01-29T00:00:10.528-08:00January 29 -- Anne Harding Woodworth<div class="yiv3882498640" dir="ltr" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2608">
<span class="yiv3882498640"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2608">
<b class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2610">The Miniaturist, 1828</b></div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2614" style="margin-left: 1in;">
<i class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2616"><span class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2618">Sarah Goodridge (1788-1853)</span></i></div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2622">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2626">
When she heard his wife had died,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2630">
she painted a miniature self-breast,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2634">
(with which he was surely familiar),</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2638">
he whose name had burst out huge</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2642">
into the public consciousness.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2646">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2650">
He did not ask her to join him in the forum.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2654">
She was a mere painter of large things</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2658">
made small, not so much insignificant</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2662">
as causing the naked eye to squint.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2666">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2670">
She continued to live off the minuscule,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2674">
the pocketable, in her unimportant way,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2678">
but no customer gave her workspace the shiver</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2682">
he had brought about among the paints.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2686">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2690">
Life without ecstasy left her woeful.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2694">
She feared he would destroy the miniature,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2698">
the two baby birds, craning, eager in their nest.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2702">
But history revealed he’d locked it in a drawer,</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2706">
as if the quick click of a key could keep a secret.</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2710" style="margin-left: 2in;">
</div>
<div class="yiv3882498640" dir="ltr" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2714">
<span class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088576564_2716"><span class="yiv3882498640" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088691787_3269"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="yiv3882498640yui_3_16_0_1_1449088691787_3266" rel="nofollow" removedlink__348022cc-8977-4e62-8da8-13ebc9e18e10__href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2006.235.74" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2006.235.74</a></span></span></div>
</span></span></div>
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<span class="yiv3882498640" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1449167389217_9951"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anne Harding Woodworth is the author of five books of poetry and three chapbooks, with a fourth, <b>The Last Gun</b>, coming out in 2016. Her work is in published in journals at home (TriQuarterly, Painted Bride Quarterly) and abroad (Antigonish Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, Crannog), print and on line (Innisfree Poetry Journal, Punchnel's). She lives in Washington, D.C., where she is a member of the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library.</span></span></div>
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John Brantinghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09355349090930672315noreply@blogger.com0