#339 The Domain of Arnheim (2)

It was Ellison who suggested they were prognostic of death.
           Edgar Allan Poe: The Domain of Arnheim

Magritte's love for Poe is
elsewhere evidenced by
a painting titled after the
Imp of the Perverse, &
the appearance of Arthur
Gordon Pym on the mantel-
piece in Not to be Reproduced.

One of each of those; but
this is one of nine variants —
oil or gouache — that has
the same title, painted across
twenty eight years. Not to
mention the guest appearance
of the eagle & its nest in

several other paintings. Some
doubt about the date of this
version. I like to think was done
near the end of the artist's life.
May not be true but there are
clues. A candle to light the way,
& the way the bird is poised as

if for take-off, tearing itself out
of a landscape it does not want
anyone else's hand laid upon.

#338 La robe de l'aventure

Dermochelys coriacea, the
leatherback turtle, does not 
have a carapace, looks 
like an overgrown okra 
pod with flippers & fins, 
but is the only thing that 
gives this scene the marine
setting it probably is.
                                     Other-
wise is floating in the air, 
above a drowned inconnue 
who is / likewise out of 
water as well as in it, out-
stretched on a beach & 
reaching up with her dancer's 
arms to form the mammal 
shape which has substance
only after passing by them. 

#337 Les objets d'art de René Magritte

a pair of diamante lorgnettes

birds that are birds, that are not birds, that are, sometimes, something else

clouds stolen from the opening of The Simpsons

death masks

Edgar Allan Poe

Fantômas

Georgette. Naked Georgette. Clothed Georgette. Incomplete Georgette. Always Georgette

horses' bells

inflamed euphoniums

jokes & jockeys

kiss. No, not the rock group but the Rodin sculpture. But not the Rodin sculpture, only the space it fills

lost worlds

Martin Luther & the King of the Jews

neologism, or at least the attachment of new labels

open-toed boots

pleasure that the girl gets from eating a bird

quantum leaps

rendering the impossible possible

sacks that cover the lovers' heads

this is not an apple, nor a pipe, not even a piece of cheese

using speech to show how speech misleads

victory is what was hoped for in this break in the clouds, even if they turned their backs
on the war & the victory came unseen

what lasts is how the lovers shared a space, not how they looked at one another

x-rays of leaves, the skeletons of trees

"Your dialectics & your Surrealism en plein soleil are threadbare," wrote André Breton.

"Sorry, Breton, but the invisible thread is on your bobbin," replied Magritte

Zeus. Anger. Hubris

#336 The Postcard

Chère Georgette

The apple is full, & almost ready
for eclipse. But the UV rays it
gives off are intense, & I've been
exposed to an overdose of them,
simply by going out onto the balcony
to see if the eclipse has started yet.

I should be wearing a hat, but
a bowler is not the easiest thing to
have on all the time. Maybe I should
have bought one of those embroidered
baseball caps that Donald Trump gets
around in & brought it with me. With
a different message, though. Nothing
as gauche & inviting hubris as his
hat has. Something simple, apt. Like
"un objet rencontre son image."

Ton mari
René