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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Atticus on October 8, 2004, at 16:28:00
A Fractured Guitar Floats Origami Notes
A melted pocket watch,
Draped
On my fire
Escape,
Ripples like laundry
In the autumn
Breeze.
A bald guy in Chelsea
Screams
About his
Dreams,
Muttering that he’s
Feeling ill at
Ease.
Hazy water lilies
Glow
In a gutter’s
Flow,
Tinted misty wisps
That no one clearly
Sees.
A dancing dripping
Squiggle,
A bebop
Wiggle,
Moves to a Blue Note
John Coltrane
Piece.
A fighter jet goes
Blam!
Near a Brooklyn
Man,
Rains giant dots of
Color as he shouts,
“Jeez!”
A fractured guitar
Floats
Origami
Notes
That sound like chords
Bent like folded
Knees.
And a guard scratches his
Head,
Wishing he were
Dead,
For leaving that door open
Because the art always
Flees.
And he recalls the
Picasso
That headed for
El Paso
And was found lounging
Under sun-dappled
Trees.
MOMA’s sterile walls of
White
Are a dull frightful
Sight
To rich thick pigments,
And so the chance was
Seized.
Now the art so very
Pretty
Devours vistas in the
City,
And all the escaped paintings
Are pretty g*ddamned
Pleased.
-- Atticus
Posted by malthus on October 9, 2004, at 16:27:55
In reply to poem ... A Fractured Guitar Floats Origami Notes, posted by Atticus on October 8, 2004, at 16:28:00
Hi Atticus:
I love this piece. The opening line must be be from "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali, no? Also the rhyme scheme is wonderful, although I'm not sure what it is. Knowing you as I do you have invented one.
"MOMA’s sterile walls of
White
Are a dull frightful
Sight
To rich thick pigments,..."After visiting MOMA this summer I particularly like this line. It's a bit ironic; I'm going to start the art chapter with my Spanish 3 students on Monday. Perhaps this poem would make for a good "anticipatory set" about art and artists such as yourself.
Estupendo.
malthus
Posted by Atticus on October 9, 2004, at 22:08:07
In reply to Re: poem ... A Fractured Guitar Floats Origami Notes » Atticus, posted by malthus on October 9, 2004, at 16:27:55
Hi Malthus,
The opening escaped painting is indeed Dali's icon of surrealism "Persistence of Memory."
In case you're curious, the other pieces on the lam mentioned are:
Edvard Munch, "The Scream" (modernism);
Claude Monet, almost any of his water lily pieces (impressionism);
Jackson Pollock, one of his drip and splatter "action" paintings (abstract expressionism);
Roy Lichtenstein, "BLAM" (Pop Art);
And Georges Braque, "Man with a Guitar" (cubism).
I tried to include a representative example of most of the major art movements of the 20th century. (Left out Dadaism -- the poem was getting too long and most Dada works are not well-known.) Thanks for your compliments. The crazy rhyme scheme I made up (one internal rhyme per verse (i.e. "draped" and "escape" in the first vignette) was combined with a sustained rhyme that carries throughout the whole poem and appears in the 7th line of each section. Man, did that get tiresome fast -- seemed like a fun idea at the time but it was exhausting to sustain that rhyme all the way to the end. I'm glad you posted. Always good to get your input. ;) Atticus
Posted by Jai Narayan on October 10, 2004, at 7:44:06
In reply to poem ... A Fractured Guitar Floats Origami Notes, posted by Atticus on October 8, 2004, at 16:28:00
I enjoyed reading about your poem and it's meaning.
thanks for the illumination. enjoyed the discussion between you and Malthus...(I hope I spelled it right)
I am going back to work today.
Hope all is well with you on this fine sunday morning.
jai
Posted by Atticus on October 10, 2004, at 20:44:21
In reply to Re: poem ... A Fractured Guitar Floats Origami Notes, posted by Jai Narayan on October 10, 2004, at 7:44:06
Hi Jai,
Glad you liked the poem. I figured as a fellow artist you might get a kick out of it (and also be well-equipped to identify the various MOMA paintings -- as well as being familiar with their creators -- who've gone walkabout in NYC in the piece. I hope your foot holds up at work today without too much discomfort. Ta. ;) Atticus
Posted by Jai Narayan on October 11, 2004, at 7:26:16
In reply to Re: poem ... A Fractured Guitar Floats Origami Notes » Jai Narayan, posted by Atticus on October 10, 2004, at 20:44:21
Have you ever been on the Wikipedia.com site? It has some cool photos and some disturbing shots( a photo of Peacekeeper missle system being tested at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands).
I spent an hour on it last night.
I got a beautiful image of Antarctica, I am so enamored with our south pole.
I also saw a huge picture of the entire earth and it's lights at night. This was awesome.
I am off to work this morning.....3 hours a day. I think I can handle that.
Posted by Atticus on October 11, 2004, at 9:33:00
In reply to Atticus, I got a beautiful image of Antarctica, posted by Jai Narayan on October 11, 2004, at 7:26:16
Hi Jai,
We should probably continue this conversation on Social so we don't end up getting "redirected" (I don't know why that annoys me so much -- just the air of paternalism about it). But I will ask: Why the fascination with the South Pole in particular?
Answer on Social, OK? Ta. ;) Atticus
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