Nothing worth a second glance
Naught but this skinless graft
But alls that I have since become
Is loathly less than daft.
Betrickled schmears of images
Smirked to smirching hues -
My can vast on a blasphemed wall
Of splotching blacks and clues.
Behold the blash of Flemish style
That Burns in from both ends
Yet eyrie zides inside the heart
Consuming sons and friends.
Author notes
Walking the edge of sanity to parallel the world and works of Goya with words.
Madman or Genius?
Gibberish or Mental Manna?
www.artchive.com/artchive/G/goya.html
www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/goya/
www.cyberspain.com/passion/goya.htm
www.spanisharts.com/prado/goya.htm
Inspiration for this piece comes from the many images of Goya throughout his lengthy life as an artist. His work moved through many moods. From a somewhat classical style, through a typical period of portraiture he earned a position as a court painter in Spain and later in France. This was followed by a more satirical period of etchings. He painted the atrocities of war and was forced by the Inquisition to remove his works. This left him disillusioned with humanity and alienated by the pomposity of the Court.
Now deaf, he retreated from society and continued to paint his increasingly black and bleak visions on the walls of his home in exile. Having had only one of his many sons survive to adulthood, Saturn Devouring His Son seems to encapsulate for me the richest layers of perception and reflection in all of Goya’s work. It has the feel of a raging raptor forced to sacrifice one offspring for the survival of another. (Is it any wonder his son began to question his father’s sanity? )
I can’t help but marvel at his variety, his innate sense of social commentary and satire, the influence of Rembrandt in his use of light, and the visual textures that calls to mind the flow of Robert Burns’ depictions of battle in Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn and how, in his later years, his life echoes the feeling of Burns’ Despondancy – An Ode.
Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn
oldpoetry.com/poetry/35989
Despondancy – An Ode
oldpoetry.com/poetry/357
Now, perhaps, you’ll take a second glance and see something different in my words.
Written December 13th, 2004
In a list
What did you think
Comments
1 - 29 of 29
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This is fierce! Layer upon layer of disturbed thinking, that is neither madness nor genius but blatant truth! Astounding poetry and the visual art highlights the words with an underlying proficiency! Very clever work here my friend. The best of luck to you in this mindbending challenge.
~mt~
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Perhaps you could explain this one to me, line by line.
I am left confused. -
lol yes, i understand that. I wanted to speed up the process of the reader questioning the stability of the writer by giving them something to trip over. The alls is an intentional misuse to begin to stir discomfort in their confidence in the writer. My hopes is that it grates one into seeing the confidence that teeters on the line between the confident and the misguided brain. (ooops, lol, dids it again). I certainly thank you for tripping over what others apparently didn't.
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That comment didn't come out right. I'm not talking about your dialect, I'm talking about "alls". The dialect is fine. Funny how something can sound right until you read it over.
Jim Dunlap
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What better way to set the brain on edge than to irritate the ear? just call it the dialect of insanity.
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Good job.
This is quite a good write, actually, although I have serious reservations about your third line use of "alls". I suppose it must be some sort of dialect you are using but it grates on my ear when I read the poem aloud.
Jim Dunlap -
Goya's work, (at least the work for which he is most famous) always repulsed me due to the political nature of much of it, but what makes a painting is not the subject matter. It is the technique, and it is in this all important facet of painting that Goya excels.
In the world of painting, there is almost no line between genius and madness, for the daub of a madman is the only daub that can change anything.
The image you have here is of course well suited to the poem, in which madness and genius both are all-consuming tyrants.
Edited on Dec 21, 8:02 p.m. because ''. -
great
Very unpredictable poem. Great alltogetether. Good Structure and flow.
Keep up the great work, and I would be honored if you joined my Poetry Group (The LoseR Outfit) at this link.
http://allpoetry.com/poet/group/The%20LoseR%20Outfit
Just click it and then click the thing that says join at the bottom of the page. I hope to see you there.
~Tal
The LoseR Outfit -
I wasn't at all prepared for this one. It is ironic that maddness and genius seem to walk hand in hand.
Sincerely,
Leo Long -
cubert!!!! How did I miss your comments when they first arrived? hugs to you for wading through the many streams of this to find your own. But now, I must go back and read it through what I know of your eyes, hoping I can be as perceptive as you.
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well, i read it three times, then your comments, and then everyone else's, and am very relieved to say i got it the first time...whew! thought i was being dense for a minute. i am familiar with the works of goya, have always been fascinated, and so, of course, love this piece, for what it says of him, and of you. and of me....lol. ty for the brain food
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I think I will hide under the sheet tonight
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Pastiche,
I do so love your comments on my work. They always reveal what rides beneath the surface and let me know my work is truly seen. To you, I am transparent.
Am I the skinless graft whose less than daft? Yes and no. Two streams run through this. One is me, the other Goya. Each stream brings its own meaning to those words. Stand in my stream and the gaping wound of that is clear. Stand in Goya's it becomes more a political statement. As the two run together, in my demented mind at least, there is a third meaning created.
Canvassed and ire resides - only you would pull those to the forefront so well... and with such a sparkle of humour. But to answer your second question, it would take pages - absolute pages, and then of course my butt would grow even wider, wouldn't it? lol
Thank you for seeing and saying and striving to make sense of it all - you do it all with such grace. I read your comments and know it's all worth it.
(Now, aren't you sorry you asked? lol)
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Lisa,
An immersion in DaVinci - now THERE's a great thought! And I love your question about the courage of artists. My first thought in reply is "Yes, if they are any good." But maybe you have hit upon what pushes so many to the brink of insanity - that urge to keep pushing the limits of thought and expression. It must take its toll in many unforeseen ways.
So stay immersed my dear in pages of beauty and when your sun returns we shall all dance with you.
Edited on Dec 19, 5:53 because ''. -
That makes a lot more sense once you've given the background information.
beautiful poem, great flow. Deep meaning and very thought-provoking. Nice work.
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Your wording in this is incredible. Each word appears to have a completely separate meaning! I thought it was wonderful! So here’s an applause for you for education this online poetry world. Woohoo for abstract poetry!
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This was strange but very interesting! Nice write! The picture kind of freaked me out lol!
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So, Greek gods "eat"/swallow their young...I read a book when I was in high school, "Outsider Art," think you might like it
(if it can be found, not sure, read many moons ago), anyway, it was about the Art done by "insane" people, it has influenced my art over the years in a very positive way.
Thanks for the Goya stuff highly interesting, however, I enjoyed your poetry even more before I learned of the Goya influence...your poem is powerful stuff that uses images and puctuation well
with such a pace and flow, the structure doesn't interfere with the contents coming to the fore, it all becomes one, a grand poem! I had a short story published last year in the "horror" anthology trade paperback series ASYLUM, vol. 3, "The Quiet Ward," too bad they don't take poetry, but my main character would have loved your work (ha ha?)...instead, we here can relish what you can do, hoping more will learn of such a talent as you! Thank you for you words and more! -
ah the fine line... wonderfully written. Your invented words echo many great writers, Lewis Carroll popped to mind first. You use those words effectively and in the right places as not all writers can.
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wow.......I read the poem and then saw the picture underneath....freaky! heh heh but I think that you did a good job with the poem, but is it genius or madness? heh heh
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All wound with wounds of wicker words, a mélange of maddened meaning – glistening glimpses of the frayed, afraid of fickle feeling…
I very much liked all the plays on words and the poem as a whole – I also enjoyed the short résumé of Goya. I’d not read anything about ‘Saturn’ but I’d always seen it as a metaphor… Saturn ‘the bringer of old age’ (as in the planet suite) was corrupting (eating) the young with old age… (passing of time) I didn’t quite see where the choosing of one offspring for another was implied… but as I say I’m dreadfully ignorant when it comes to art.
I think poems like this with an addendum by the author, give a whole different perspective on the piece – good luck in the contest and ten out of ten from me for the links to the brilliant poetry of Rabbie Burns!
Edited on Dec 14, 11:54 because ''. -
very strange.... loved the words, it made it very musically appealing. not sure if i really understand, ut awesome nonetheless!
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Absolutely perfect!!!!!!!!!
First a couple of questions -
Do you see yourself as the "skinless graft..." though "less than daft"?
Does "My can vast on a blasphemed wall" relate to (the art on) AP or just the process of aging in general? (LOL)
Congrats on the excellent mental/verbal trickery with "can vast" and "eyrie zides"! They're thoughtfully better than just wordgames!
The overall echoes of Burn's style - increasing as the poem moves to its "despondent" end - are, somehow, beautiful. Read aloud, this becomes so amazingly apparent!
A most remarkable poem that needed many reads to understand at, I am certain, only one of many levels.
Apart from this pomposity, I am speechless at this creation.
Edited on Dec 14, 9:03 because ''. -
Oh Jane, Oh Jane, Oh Jane. This fits so well into some strange place I happen to be immersed in at present. Goya was courageous wasn't he? Is Art always courageous? I'm reading a wonderful little yard sale find book Art Criticism of the Old Masters by some pretty interesting people .. right now I'm stuck on Walter Pater on Da Vinci (who I've taken quite an interest in lately). Anyway, you've done a top notch job of putting this piece together. Best of luck in the contest..
Lisa
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yay woo hoo yay
i lked the imagery but i found it a little hard to really relate to i found it a litte wird but i guess this is what makes it unique and interesting to read -
9.5/10
I'm changing my verdict. The imagry is really good. -
7/10
Wierd. But good. -
That is wonderful- Good God I loved that!!!
David -
It was a bit gibberish to me, I have to say, but it sounded great nonetheless.
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