“BUTTERFLY - Among the ancients, an emblem of the soul and of unconscious attraction towards the light. The purification of the soul by fire, represented in Romanesque art by the burning ember placed by the angel in the prophet’s mouth, is visually portrayed on a small Mattei urn by means of an image of love…
Like that of a mountain, to make art. Especially classical styles, which I spent some time reflecting on at the Morgan Library today. Art requires painstaking, attentive gestures. Focused light. More specifically, a mind full of moonlight. Shahzia Sikander’s paintings and collage-style artwork in this exhibit, “Extraordinary Realities,” showcase her classical techniques and many layers…
Continue reading ➞ Patience
“Cézanne is asking himself how exactly he feels about this rock, this cloud, this apple.”Jed Perl, “Interpreting Nature” in NYRB July 22, 2021 issue I think everything danced in Cézanne’s eye. “Still life” doesn’t describe the pictures he made. Today’s adventure took on the MOMA’s current exhibition of Cézanne’s drawings and watercolors. If there’s a…
Continue reading ➞ Deliberate
Seen through water and glass, the stems of cut flowers have a presence like the trunks of trees to me. Just like that, paintings made of water and transparent pigments evoke the real as though it were transplanted from paradise. This week I’m educating myself with a mini immersion in visual arts around NYC. Actually,…
Continue reading ➞ Start with wonder
So you're already lying on a patio chaise or, better yet, a hammock, reading something with which you're planning to torture undergraduates in the fall? Yes, me too. I hadn't read The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck, though I know that's the favorite among her collections. So, I'm reading it now, educating myself on the…
Continue reading ➞ Summer is for reading
pi day song - Observing sometimes means counting. How many times over, or how many iterations, repetitions in a pattern—these details are necessary to an act of keen artistic understanding. Time spent observing, letting the eye circle its shrine while interiorly circumambulating the heart’s concerns, isn’t counted. In fact, it puts time back into your…
Continue reading ➞ Beautiful numbers
Riverside high tide It’s a state of mind. Empty and ready to face the don’t-know-what’s-next feeling with patience. My students have written some amazing poems so far this year. Maybe it’s because feelings can’t be helped these days, and a creative opening can help.
Primrose path memory It’s like singing, except it’s painting or writing poems or sharing a recipe or planting a pot of flowers or anything else that awakens a full presence. For the past few months in my creative life, I have been writing little poetry, and I admit that I wondered why my voice was…
Continue reading ➞ Voicings
One of my students sent me some snow-day poems. And that has made all the difference. We work on some images, phrases. While storms rush through and it becomes increasingly painful to read the newspaper every day, one wonders how else to support the growth of love and hope in this world. And then through…
Continue reading ➞ Pure poetry
poet | artist 