Inverting the Winter
with lines by Louise Bourgeois
For a lifetime I have
wanted
to say the same thing.
Daubing red
paint against the sky, taking it away
in a different print. More blue then.
Laid down amid the shapes that mean
lake, mountain, house until the spaces
between them tremble and flush
with color. Over and over
the etched plate pressed to paper. Nothing
is lost. Inverting
the winter tree
so branches become roots, burrowing
the mute earth. So roots become
branches, cradling a woman’s face.
Breasts press outward from
the trunk, her pelvis nestles where roots
descend. It was a
subterranean,
unconscious land that
I longed for.
Over and over the paper’s thirsty skin
opens to drink in pigment, ink. Over
and over the tree’s stripped limbs
stroked with crimson. Now they reach
in every direction, rouged. Now
for the sky behind them. Now for the blue.
Hi Kasey. Thank you for this poem which is so resonant. I saw the compendious Louise Bourgeois show at MOMA and was very struck by her creativity over so many long years. What a testament to a woman's (or anyone's) creative power. Your poem is subtle and sophisticated, and each time I read it I am struck by a new, delicate layer. At first reading, I mainly thought that this feels like an ars poetica- especially given that strong opening statement, and the deliberative sense of process in the poem. I love how you thought to lift and use certain of LB's "lines" (pieces of text) but of course the mind also goes to 'outlines' - to the sketch of the tree described. I love the subtle rhyming and echoing 'wanted/red' 'become/from' and 'nothing/burrowing'... The cradle and nest, the pelvis, all reach toward a very specifically female vision of creation. In later readings, I tuned into the 'desire' unleashed in this poem-- the 'over and over' and now-now-now. There's not much I would change... I wonder if you thought at some point of concrete poetry-- e.g. of centering the whole poem and making it look a little more tree-like? Centering looks cheesy sometimes, but I have seen cases where it made sense.
ReplyDeleteKasey, you have such an intimate relationship with the image of the tree -- it is far more than a Muse! This poem is stunning. It is both visual and visceral. You have masterfully incorporated LB's words and images and played off them. I feel the winter in your paring down of the world's color to just red (so many ways to say red in this brief poem!) and blue. This poem is bursting with life. Even the paper--born from the tree--is alive. As Vasiliki said, I don't see anything I would suggest changing/deleting. Just curious--how many drafts did it take to get to this point! It feels as though this could have been one of those rare-ish poems that just spills out, all of a piece. It certainly reads that way! The only place that slows me down is "pigment, ink"-- but I like that brief rest, before the repetition of "now" in those lovely final lines. Brilliant work, Kasey -- thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Kasey, This is a beautiful poem full of fantastic images. As a reader, I felt immediately drawn into the poem and I love the conceit of inversions. I agree with others that desire and a complete taking in of the world seems at stake. I did wonder why, formally, there was only one line at the end of the poem (I found myself wondering: what is being inverted here?). If you want to do more with the theme of inversion, I also wondered if you could repeat some of the borrowed language in italics and invert the phrases (i.e. I longed for unconscious subterranean land for example), but that might be too self-conscious. I don't know but I thought I'd put it out there! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Kasey - beautiful poem. It feels almost finished to me as well. In terms of what I feel is at stake, the poem seems to be partly appreciation for another artist, and also an investigation into what it means to pursue desire by repetition, in print after print. The couplets beautifully express this thought - each couplet is a little like its own print - and also for me convey a sense of intimacy between the speaker and the artist, like they are sharing in this work of reaching, reaching. I almost wonder if the desire/sexuality theme could be explored more in another poem. It feels latent here, which works for this poem, but is also rich territory to be explored. Just a thought. One very minor point - I wanted there to be an "in" after burrowing. Maybe that's just me. Thanks for the work.
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