By Ted Metrakas Selection from "Bacchus and Ariadne" by Titian, 1520-1523 Ariadne is the horizon.Her smile is the earth itself smiling.That is what the horizon is,The earth’s smile to itself. Just as the earth smiles to itself, so tooDoes Ariadne. Why does she smile?As the earth smiles,A world is opened — that’s the horizon.The horizon is … Continue reading Horizon
Author: shanedevine96
Two Diptychs
By Roddy O'Hare "Grotesque" by Roddy O'Hare, 2017 I.Our modern grotto —BacklitBy damp eastern genii —Closed door blushing To be splitBy some arcade hand of Sugarcane — And skipping past Walls will lay ashy Finger vain Down to unbreatheThe word —Basement ponds flickerShards of slicker oil And curdClotted, unfixed findsA soundUnheard by skin — II.By cherry treeBoundRivering bodies TwineIn grounded soul In plasticine hand … Continue reading Two Diptychs
Euclid, Definitions I-IV
By John Pelech A poem on Euclid's first four definitions The frontispiece of Sir Henry Billingsley's first English version of Euclid's Elements, 1570 i am following corpses in deepest rotmost precise of parts the point here playdots arrange and form a first orderthose skinny bones are length unornamentedfrom a deathly thinness a most narrownessfat-less sides constrict the erosive … Continue reading Euclid, Definitions I-IV
Eulogy for a New Age
By Jonathan Mizrahi "Pichincha" by Frederic Edwin Church, 1867 Cradling our head in her ancient arms, our mother sings us a final lullaby. The dark melody extends from the depths of the forest And the animals of the earth sway with a virginal serenity. At peace with her nature and at peace with the world, … Continue reading Eulogy for a New Age
Outside
By Ulysse Bouchard "Girls Dancing Around An Obelisk" by Hubert Robert, 1798 I’ve desired, and a symbol, less than a symbol; a sign has sufficed. Sometimes less: something to pursue, a movement, a gaze, a line, a wait, at last a doubt, sliding along the faces of the lakes — a question mark. Like the … Continue reading Outside
Three Poems from a Chicago Winter
By Christian Mack "Orpheus Charming the Animals" by Peregrino da Cesena, 1490-1510 I.The heart sings a song of black diamonds— Beauty, nature-crafted, ephemeral, barely lingering— Onyx rose, glinting obsidian thorns; and Orpheus twirling among the petals, twirling in crimson, twirling in shade, rapturous vertigo, Grace-- how has she come to be so sharp? And how … Continue reading Three Poems from a Chicago Winter
The Night Awaiting
By Mike Laganella "Untitled (Black and Gray)" by Mark Rothko, 1969-70. (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986) The night outsideVast and voidCannot break into this room.The lightThat shinesAnd shows my face to you Keeps him at bay.And though the reflections play Upon the glassAnd show the one the … Continue reading The Night Awaiting
