Laura Bloomsbury at dVerse challenges us with “Poetics: The Poet as Painter”: She writes, “For those of you who like an extra challenge, then only after you have completed Part 1 [using only the title of one of the given paintings], look up the artwork link of your title choice and write a second part to your poem as ekphrastic.” The title and painting I chose: Bridget Riley’s “Movement in Squares.”
Movement in Squares
I’ve seen movement in squares
when no one’s looking:
peeling yellow edges, masks removed
the triangulation of centers multiplying
or rounding a buttery corn on a cob
a cluster of seedless green
glowing grapes sunlit
reifying corners into succulence
the pear juice piercing sweet
the sticky drippings of watermelon seeds
mathematical
I’ve seen movement in squares
when everyone’s looking:
until they march row after row
checkerboard cells of interlocking
black and white, marching in step
devolving, eliminating, disappearing
into folds of antiseptic non-existence
squares no longer, inching lines
rectangular, a comedy of illusion
designed to perpetrate a hoax
teleological
careful, my friend, around squares
there is no end of desire
finally
This Jolly Beggar 
both parts are so imaginatively written, and they converge into a cautionary line on desire. I loved the fruit painting at the start where only the artist can really see the squares- as cubism? Bravo Dora- an excellent take on the prompt
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your interpretation is spot on as usual, Laura! Appreciate your comments so much. Thank you. 🙂
LikeLike
Well done
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Ron. 🙂
LikeLike
I so love the first part… the whole poem make me think of the whole modernism through the impressionism/expressionism with all those colors, into cubism and finally abstract painting only to return again to where it all begun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love your analysis Bjorn. You make me see it all again. 🙂
LikeLike
This is gorgeously rendered! I especially love; “a cluster of seedless green glowing grapes sunlit
reifying corners into succulence.” 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely compliment, Sanaa, thank you. Cubist fruit was definitely on my mind! 😀
LikeLike
Incredibly clever, I love the two views on one abstract (that left me dizzy.) Cheers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dizzy is what I do best. Thank you Helen. Pax.
LikeLike
What I see and it could be way off is that the first part appreciates the essence of things and the second extracts the essence from them. The warning feels like don’t get too attached to either? I like the complexity of your poem which is fitting for the complexity of the image.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Lisa! The first part I was going for the authentic/natural desires of the self; the second part, the mimetic desires of the self, mimicking culture/society/peers. The warning centers on the continuity of desires, the impossibility of their negation, the implication being that one must choose one’s desires wisely while they still can.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome and thank you for helping me understand, Dora.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, my friend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Squares are sneaky little things. It’s a good representation for the dichotomy of life, the seen and unseen, both making us question. I think this could be interpreted so many ways, really! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like your way of putting it, the seen/unseen dichotomy that suppressed/unsuppressed desires pose. As long as I was doing ekphrasis on abstract art I figured I could get away with being abstruse! 😉💞
LikeLiked by 1 person
🤣 I almost did the squares but didn’t have enough coffee this afternoon. You have to go deep and abstruse for sure with that prompt!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tried! And I’m sure I confused not a few. But yeah, I’ll blame it on the coffee. ☕️😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, it’s great! I raise my cup to you ☕
LikeLiked by 1 person
💞
LikeLike
Interesting poem Dora! We do live in a society that creates never ending desires!
, a comedy of illusion
designed to perpetrate a hoax
teleological
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true. Thanks Dwight. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with Laura about the cautionary tale and the fruit painting in which only the artist can really see the squares. I love the contrast in the lines:
‘a cluster of seedless green
glowing grapes sunlit
reifying corners into succulence’
and
‘black and white, marching in step
devolving, eliminating, disappearing
into folds of antiseptic non-existence’.
It makes me question my own perception, Dora.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad you liked it and for sharing your thoughts, Kim. Desires and perceptions are perhaps worth re-examining now and again. I think good abstract paintings give us room for that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very good! Sums up the strangeness of the artwork so well! I love all the food imagery you’ve woven in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much Ingrid. :>)
LikeLiked by 1 person