Occasional Impressions

Gemini Twin

Self-surrender

[dedicated to Pablo Picasso]

Torment and hatred - yes -
but loathing - of such genius - is permitted.
People pay the earth
for one original.
Hateful it has the urgency of love;
composure that is stronger
and what is strong is strong with tenderness.
Besides in time we all appreciate true art.

I hate no less (or love); my silence too
is savagely impressed
with torn-out limbs cold-shouldered
by still life.
(Granted the landscape here is beautiful
but I wrench it apart
and at night is it blood
that I feel in the spaces?)

I made one slight mistake. I had no brush
to stab with, had no hammer,
had no furnace -
only my thumby hands.
A sculptor has the tools he is allowed
to twist out mangled shapes with,
to counter life,
to hound it out of dereliction.

But, as they say, we can’t all paint.
My medium is the mighty one of stifling life.
And I was interrupted.
emn - mar 1973

return to Gemini Twin contents.