Hi Sue,
I'm not as sure about this poem as I was about the previous one. But this is
still a canny poem IMO.
Maybe I can't see the picture too clearly in what you give us - tho, I can
see (as I think James mentioned) the turban well enough - it does stand out
in the poem!
It's difficult to say why I have reservations, I mean I think poems can and
should explore human feelings, and this is what this meditative piece is
doing.
It might just be that the "we" at the start of the poem could be too
inclusive - if it's trying to include all the readers - because I could be
really petulent and say, "Hey, hold on, I don't agree!" But even if I
thought that I might go along with words that said: "the painter, the
sitter, and I agree..." etc (but you can use your own words to phrase it,
mind sound too bouncy for the subject!)
(But maybe I'm only thinking that because I find myself intruiged by
Vermeer: the way he usually has his subjects looking to the side, the way he
creates a feeling of so much calm, what he paints just behind the figure
he's painting - and why he paints in such things...).
It's also really interesting to come across a poem that puts so much bold
emphasis on telling!
Bob
>From: Sue Scalf <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New: Holding the Light
>Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 10:26:44 EDT
>
>Holding the Light*
>
>Though unseen,
>we still know love exists;
>like hate or faith.
>The results testify
>of the incorporeal.
>So too, a soft gleam
>at the tip of an ear,
>the moistness
>of lips and eyes,
>a bright turban--
>all speak of the abstract
>and intangible.
>The calmness of her glance
>is innocence and fire;
>the pearl,
>a teardrop holding the light.
>
>Sue Scalf
>
>
>*Girl with the Pearl Earring, Johannes Vermeer
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