Paul Klee in the Naples Aquarium
In midnight light of heaven behind glass
a silk and damask flower clawed its prey;
a pebble broke apart and swam away...
and rows of dancers became blades of grass.
Waymarking ways along which Klee might pass
on walks with line to metaphor, that fey
old faker, form, the end and death to Klee
of art, had brought him to its masterclass.
The tunes his eyes beheld he'd uncompose
on tesselated staves rewrite, transpose
from world to world. Change and formation,
soul and psychic form were all Creation
gave with which to quicken vacuous space
and shape and shade it to a spirit's face
Paul Klee
Biography and Images
19 comments:
Congratulations on your 50th! That is quite a victory in today's "disposable" world. [I say that with a smile, having married my high school sweetheart and kept him...next month makes our 28th.]
You deserve a break...but don't let the workmen break you. :)
Thanks hope, I had begun to feel a bit of a dinosaur, so many remarks along the lines of; "50 years, eh? Not many of your sort around these days!"
This is my favourite poem of yours that I've read, some really beautiful lines and images. Very well done, in fact I never even noticed it was a sonnet on first read. Did you know Plath wrote a few Klee-based poems?
Oh and congratulations on your wedding anniversary, 50 years wow!
Thanks for both of those sorlil. No, I didn't know that about Plath. I must look them up.
Thank you Dave, I had a very enjoyable read here tonight.
or shld I say thx?
Ellumbra
Thank you for dropping by and welcome. My thanks also for the kind remarks,
Congratulations on 50 years. I hope the workmen haven't taken over your week and that you're finding time to write.
Fantastic poem. The language is so lyrical--I love the line "a pebble broke apart and swam away"
Congrats on your 50th. That is truly awesome. My parents celebrate their 60th next month.
Many congratulations on your wedding anniversary, and I hope everything stays golden for you!
And I absolutely adore this poem and the images it makes for me - somewhat surreal ones, I admit, but beautiful nonetheless. I particularly like 'midnight light of heaven' - it reminds of photos I've taken in different aquaria.
Haley Hughes
Many thanks for the good wishes. No, the workman have done their worst and departed. Now only the disco to face - not my first choice of entertainment. I tried to get them to dump it and engage a harpist, but no joy!
Smallworld
Many thanks for the good wishes and kind remarks. The 50th went well. I trust your parents' 60th will go likewise.
sharp-words
Many thanks for the good wishes and the feed-back on the poem. There is something quite remarkable about the light in aquaria, I always feel, that is very difficult to pin down - in any medium.
you've been tagged!
I love the pebble breaking apart too! It's a wonderful poem, I'm inclined to say I like it one of the best of yours, but that's always problematic isn't it?
Anyway, have a wonderful celebration, and congratulations on your 50th to both of you, I'm deeply impressed and heartwarmed! (And thanks for all you kind and encouraging words at mine too.)
Thanks Sorlil (I think!), but you'll have to explain. I don't think I've been tagged before - not sure how I'm supposed to respond. So much I don't know about this blogging lark!
Hi Lucy,
Thanks for the good wishes. All over now. It's been a hectic and enjoyable week. Even the disco was fairly acceptable!
Yes, it's always problematic, rating poems for preference. I find that the order keeps changing, not dramatically perhaps, but slowly over time.
Thanks for the positives, though, they do help to keep one focussed!
Late congratulations, Dave - on a fine relationship record and a fine poem.
Dick,
Thanks for thse two much-appreciared comments. (Never too late to be valued.)
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