Ladders
Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of Fire
(1953), Joan Miró
A
Melody to a Chord
(Ten Titles by Joan Miró)
(Ten Titles by Joan Miró)
Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a
Wheel of Fire
lit by unseen presence
not trying to evolve
every
dab of colour
cleaner than clean from the process
no discernible effect
more worried than we were.
persistent celebration
Military-style camps
without written slogans.
no
longer the product of tensions
a melancholy haze over everything
not comic, but grotesque.
the possibility of opposing
high-density bombardment
she
agreed at once.
The light of the setting sun
glistened like snow.
Every fraction of an inch
turned back to seek for the door
paid no attention to the old.
movement in order to convey
being caught up into Heaven
where they could not find him.
And Jacob slept alone.
The Smile of Flamboyant Wings
A
star fell from the sky; then another.
sense of space and flow
body language
formidable nuances
the
skin of things
gathered by the shell of her ear
simply looking in the mirror.
dreamed of catching her as she flew
Woman in Front of the Stars
sky
could be so many things
future she had long dreamt
sky could be so many things
feel their shape and density
sky could be so many things
outstretched arms and scraps of cloth.
sky could be so many things
more stars than grains of sand
sky could be so many things
streaks and incrustation
sky could be so many things
attracted by the light
sky could be so many things
formal
language of her own
sky could be so many things
play of lines in water
sky could be so many things
She walked into her past.
The Escape Ladder
coping strategies
shared memories
made as though to say goodbye
studied
composition
climbing up and into
an abandoned drifting boat
The Nightingale’s Song at Midnight
and the Morning Rain
firefly luminosity
, magic persists
This
is the world
a metaphor for later
bottles of water upturned
indoor storm
next morning the world
heathered blue
a different breaking light
Figures in the Night
entombment of a myth
fantastic
posturing
refusing to be born
these realms are home terrain
all asking the same questions
I forgot sundown.
Message from a Friend
woke with eager stories
incomprehension to speak
here to give voice to this
missives from a dank nowhere
What did you say the name was?
tells nobody and nobody asks
only to keep them apart
snatches
of conversation
noises from beneath
An opportunity to hear
The Vowel Song
unblinking eye
inadvertently
visionary
ordering chance
worn-out words
more process than outcomes
unpredictable eruption
semantic construction
threads carry information
boundaries or bridges
how a word can be written
Bird, Insect, Constellation
could
hardly be more confusion
gunshot, an explosion of feathers
don’t want to hurt anything any more
long term memory vanishing
end of the event reported
her artistic universe
epitaphs
on tombstones
photographs of dead people
can't see something any more
refashioning materials
unlimited airspace
and faraway stars
Woman, Bird, Star
She’s summer
she can hear the sea
She asked
She didn’t have far to go.
She shakes her head.
She holds her breath.
She looks out at the sea.
, looks up at the sky
She
stayed.
She sees only the sun
She began to sleep,
she leaves
Crossing
the blue sky
in a wheel of fire
allotted familiarity
doesn’t
have far to go.
—Serena
Mayer
