Whoring in Paradise

 

Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window

—Painting by Johannes Vermeer, 1659

ON VERMEER’S GIRL READING A LETTER AT AN OPEN WINDOW
After “A Vermeer Restoration Reveals a God of Desire”  

—N.Y. Times, 9/9/2021


The Cupid in the background is restored,
Justifying the blush on the girl’s face.
The painting’s harmony? Better by one chord.

Some prudish owner, retoucher must’ve deplored,
Then simplified, complexity and grace.
The Cupid in the background is restored:

A tantalizing shape to tease the bored?
Look close, look long: you’ll see He merits a space;
The painting’s harmony, better by one chord,

Sings how we honor art as we see scored
In it, time that is real and time that’s been displaced.
The Cupid in the background is restored,

Not that Cupid is vivid, the sun implored
To dazzle: diffuse the light, the draftsman’s trace.
The painting’s harmony, better by one chord?

What’s one triad worth? Resurfacing, aboveboard,
One trait we already knew defines our race?
The Cupid in the background is restored.
The painting’s harmony, better—by just one chord.


(Posted 9/9/21 in the Times’ Comments section alongside the article) 

 

 

 

Sylvia Plath

 

SYLVIA PLATH ACTS IN A CAMBRIDGE PLAY, 1955

On the boards in Jonson’s play,
Cynical Bartholomew Fair,
Fulbright nova garbed to slay,
You cut scorching figures there:
Your small role, a curdled drab.
Diction, girl-rogue, cockney chin
Aiming your projectile blab,
Verbal arrowhead of sin
Pointed sharp at fool and gull,
While the “action-whirling” square
Half-obscures your gown-smudged trull,
Breasty portions bared to air.
I’ve seen played this farce of wrath;
Hope to read, see it again soon,
Search out lines you’ve spoke, pure Plath;
Slivered phase but waxing moon,
Shortly to batten and be great,
Burst half free of your skin gown,
Mind-flywheels, whirling at Fate.
Low-slung blouse displays, not much
Conjectural, declivity.
I can taste the ashy smutch
In the “customer” you free,
Looks as lures to snag loose men,
Smiles of milk congealing ice…
Do these floor-length skirts not then
(Futures turnstile at high price)
Draggle in Rubicons die-cast?
What knives will you whet un-nice,
Buttery nows churn into past?
Inward-mirroring steely core,
Muse-extruding, scaly coiler,
Speaking Ben’s man-hooking whore
Hot as any “Aga boiler,”
Toxic drink served with a slice,
“Petticoats whoring to Paradise”
—“Voices prophesying” far
Into your heart-fought civil war.

___________________

Today’s LittleNip(s):

MAD GIRL’S LOVE SONG
—Sylvia Plath

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

* *  *

“I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.”

―Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

* * *

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

―Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

___________________

—Congrats to Tom Goff for having a poem published in the New York Times; see above. It’s also wonderful to see poetry published in the mainstream of a magazine, rather than tucked away in some corner. Since Tom sent us this lovely villanelle about Vermeer, I couldn’t resist posting Sylvia Plath’s also-lovely villanelle.

So—Get out your high-heeled sneakers—today’s a very busy one:

Today at 2pm, Poetry of the Sierra Foothills (“Poetry is Gold in El Dorado County”) presents Traci Gourdine & Patrick Grizzell with “Voices for Change”, plus open mic. Love Birds Coffee & Tea. Co., 4181 Hwy 49, Ste. 100, Patio, Diamond Springs (where Hwy 49 meets Pleasant Valley Rd.). Host: Lara Gularte. [This reading was postponed recently due to Patrick being bitten by a black-widow spider.]

Also this afternoon, at 3:30pm: Sac. Poetry Center presents Poetry Fuzion Poetry Slam (PSI rules), $5 entry fee, 2 rounds, $100 First Prize. SPC Courtyard, 1719 25th St, Sac. THEN…

… at 6pm: SPC’s Poets United, featuring Andru Defeye, Allegra Silberstein, Ike Torres, Vincent Kobelt, Natachi Mez, Jan Haag, Russell Cummings. DJ A Serious Production; Musician Douglas Wolfe. FREE. SPC Courtyard, 1719 25th St, Sac. Enjoy a complimentary dinner; friends and family welcome. Info: www.facebook.com/events/553211542588019/. [Did I mention FREE?]

Meanwhile, this afternoon at 4pm: The Poets in Conversation series, hosted and curated by poet Phyllis Klein, features William O’Daly reading with poet and translator Terry Ehret who, with co-translators John Johnson and Nancy J. Morales, has been translating and publishing the ground-breaking poetry of Ulalume González de León, a Mexican poet who was a favorite of Octavio Paz. Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/j/85444839333?pwd=WkZDUnY1KzhUOGhmY0hWclBoMG0xUT09

Meeting ID: 854 4483 9333 (Passcoade: 483721)

Then this evening, 7pm & 8:15pm (ends at 9:15pm): T-Mo Entertainment presents Grown Man Business Poetry & Music Show (two shows): Spoken Word and Music with Terry Moore and special guest singer/musician SB the Moor, plus 2020 America’s Got Talent winner poet Brandon Leake at 8:15pm. 1913 Del Paso Blvd., Sac. Admission $10. Info/tix: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-grown-man-business-poetry-music-show-two-shows-tickets-163822741229/.

And at 7:30-9pm: Sac. Poetry Alliance (www.sacramentopoetryalliance.com) presents Four for the Quarter, a reading with Josh McKinney, Julia Levine, Traci Gourdine, and Jeff Knorr at 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento. Info: www.facebook.com/events/290310312859077/?ti=ls/. Host: Frank Graham, Penny Kline. Please bring a mask if you are not vaccinated.

______________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

“And sung me moonstruck…”
—Public Domain Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.

Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously-published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!