tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66419492024-03-14T01:41:46.252+10:00mark young's Series Magrittean on-going series of poems inspired by the great Belgian paintermark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.comBlogger535125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-34788791537377023662024-03-09T08:53:00.004+10:002024-03-09T11:28:02.525+10:00#531 La VeilléeA lighted candle & holder cut
from a music score. Papier
collé, glued paper, evoking
techniques from some decades
before, invoking thoughts of
his brother, a musician, poet.
Laid beside the candle, eggs
in a nest. Though not known
where they were laid. Nor
known which came first, the
candle or the eggs. Not that
that matters. Take notice of
the notes, their similarity to
DNA, the genetic mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-75710197713179191102024-02-23T08:38:00.001+10:002024-02-23T08:38:24.420+10:00#530 Le SomnambuleIt should have been a one-
pipe problem, Watson, but
my sleep patterns have been
irregular lately, have moved
from the no sleep of cocaine
use to an ersatz sleepwalking,
full of fear, as if the hound of
the Baskervilles was hard on
my heels. I wake, immediately
reach for another pipe. Have
lost count of how many I’ve
smoked in the last few weeks.
& now I’m having visions,
will suddenly mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-16362601059158212772024-02-18T11:47:00.000+10:002024-02-18T11:47:14.239+10:00#529 Les PierreriesSo much alike as
we peer from the
box we could
pass as brothers.
But what’s in a
box is often more
than just contain-
ment, what reso-
nates can be more
than beauty is. Gems
we might some-
times be referred
to as; but what
other facets will
be displayed when
the lid is lifted?
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-85913843391777242972024-02-05T08:21:00.000+10:002024-02-05T08:21:09.053+10:00#528 La Joconde (1962)
The slice-of-sky curtain is
center stage — or should
that be center plage? Behind
it are two other curtains, red
this time, ready, when the
bell starts to ring, to move
slightly forward & draw to-
gether to conceal the other &
leave only sand & sea in sight.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-66488897959217867082024-01-28T10:39:00.003+10:002024-01-29T12:13:13.432+10:00#527 Collage (Sur L’Oiseau Mort) (1926)
The silhouette of a man’s
head has the cutout of
a bilboquet within it.
Pinions a dead bird, an
image also found in a
painting done the same
year. A whiff of sadism
to them — the sparrow
usually emblematic of
fragility but here associ-
ated with a violent death.
Who knows what angst
remained in the painter’s
heart: but ever since, most of
his birds were live & white.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-55587478753887141132023-12-15T09:13:00.003+10:002023-12-15T10:28:24.278+10:00#526 Portrait de Commandant Marius Delsaux (1923)No need to flee to Canada
to avoid les rigeurs of
military service
when you
have artistic ability of such
an high level that a portrait
of your commanding officer
promotes you to an alternative
method of serving the
military —
painting portaits of the remain-
der of the garrison officer corps.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-63300954498421095172023-11-18T18:07:00.004+10:002023-11-21T12:14:53.708+10:00#525 Après le balIn more modern times it would
be My Fair Lady. “I could have
danced all night, & still come back
for more.” Or maybe not. Naked
on a bed, asleep. Not so much a
bed but a plinth. & she obviously
worn out, comfort not a consider-
ation. & the curtain that partitions
now from before drawn back to
reveal a destruction that has not
necessarily paused, houses on their
sides, the floor of the room, mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-24774390247965186452023-11-13T20:17:00.003+10:002023-11-14T19:53:13.062+10:00#524 Tête d’homme (1920)
There is always a
before, he said, but
let your imagination
shape what comes
after, even if you had-
n’t planned a head.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-86901248681004006842023-11-05T20:33:00.005+10:002023-11-12T09:49:31.902+10:00#523 The Boys' Club"This is the inner circle of the Paris Surrealists
arranged around the outer perimeter
in straight lines"
(top row)
surrealist vision works, Stern with bow, Wipster alternative cancer ... jean, Achievement reflects business sense financial advisors, Avril collins weber ...
jean tonique? Ait logistics contact number, Raphia naturel couleur, X mp ... caupenne d'armagnac, Al reef villas mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-29725658913596169032023-10-27T06:58:00.001+10:002023-10-27T06:58:35.619+10:00#522 The ImprovementThings might seem to be
how they seem until you
reach the door — or, more
probably, one of many doors —
marked Magritte the Magi-
cian, open any of them, &
discover the invisible that
resides behind the visible.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-45295686910634756052023-10-03T08:22:00.005+10:002023-10-03T11:32:47.744+10:00#521 La Bonne Aventure
The clichés, which should
have been here in numbers,
are nowhere to be seen. Have
fled, some further down the
seaside cliffs, some gone on
board that passenger liner
which is now full steam a-
head for the open sea, all
struck dumb by a sensory
perception of the androgy-
nous eroticism inherent in
this oversized nose, at once
both phallic & feminine. Only
that synecdoche sycamore re-
mains, mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-50754856664084912952023-09-09T08:55:00.002+10:002023-09-09T12:19:20.809+10:00#520 Le VoleurThe hot air balloon has
been stolen from another
painting; as have the river
& the hills it weaves be-
tween. Then there's the
curtain which has been
on show so many times
that it would otherwise
appear threadbare were
it not for the wardrobes
full of similar things —
taken from clotheslines
& salons & a number of
theaters — which are easy
to switch between. Now
focus on the thief himself,
whomark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-3887792855460603212023-09-02T09:44:00.005+10:002023-09-06T17:09:04.553+10:00#519 The Lovers IV
This meeting of minds
can't be that great
if it's so easy to see
his heart isn't in it.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-85542882703201946592023-08-27T21:10:00.002+10:002023-08-27T21:10:54.367+10:00#518 La Victoire (2)Winning opens a
door; & shows that
nothing at all has
changed. The same
sand, the same sea.
A fresh cloud, per-
haps. But that will
blow away shortly.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-51776340612511840112023-08-23T09:19:00.001+10:002023-08-23T09:19:41.735+10:00#517: Le Leçon des Ténèbres
i. Between Light & Darkness
"Within the liturgy of the Catholic Church there is a long tradition of singing the Lamentations of Jeremiah during Holy Week, based on a parallel being drawn between the text’s description of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and the death of Christ. By the time of Couperin and de Lalande, a practice had been established in which the text was divided into ninemark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-88747872205022682452023-07-31T22:11:00.007+10:002023-08-03T08:25:24.774+10:00##516: skate / parked / bored
Sweet Jesus. Le fils de l’homme
as a skateboard. What would
Foucault have made of this,
especially since the constructors
insist ceci n’est pas un skateboard?
The accompanying text describes
it thus: an "edition of artwork
intended for decorative purposes...
with one wall mount per deck to
hang it on your wall, just like a
painting." It also points out that
you could skate on it if mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-31544654547894607562023-07-14T22:09:00.000+10:002023-07-21T13:27:10.859+10:00Three poems from Series Magritte at YouTube
via The Continental Review
Read by Miia Toivio & with graphics by Marko Niemimark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-38405824372120414482023-06-25T11:05:00.003+10:002023-06-28T08:34:12.342+10:00#515: La Saveur des Larmes (c.1938 )
Sinatra offscreen. An Oscar-
winning song. Sammy Cahn
lyrics. Oops, there goes another
rubber tree plant even though
Anyone knows an ant can't
Move a rubber tree plant. Maybe
that's what the caterpillars are
singing as they start to demolish
the giant synecdoche that towers
over the river, over a house full of
lights which foreshadows the final
work of the painter, over a bridge
which mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-55926593124991828782023-06-12T10:52:00.001+10:002023-06-14T07:38:33.005+10:00#514 Pour devenir un fort soldat / To become a strong soldier (1918)
What would you do if your team mate gets injured & there is no medic near?
O Find the nearest veterinary clinic & make an appointment
O Select an optimal key for both to sing the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive in
O Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross
O With no other indicator, choose to give up & respawn instead
Are you focused & calm in awkward situations?
O Only when the wind is mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-10854701062496639762023-06-08T09:06:00.003+10:002023-06-08T09:10:21.825+10:00#513 Strange, dear, buttrue, dear. The Cole Porter song enters
my morning mind as if it had every
right to be there, as if it lived there &
was returning home after a night out.
But not simply the song, a specific rend-
ition of it. k.d. lang's, first heard on the
Red Hot + Blue tv special & subsequent
album compilation. What is stranger is
how to interpret the locus of the singer,
of the mindsong. In the video,mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-3609148369561448782023-05-15T07:07:00.000+10:002023-05-15T07:07:38.352+10:00#512 Le Masque Vide
Many believed that politeness
was just a mask, that what was
said may not be what was meant
or thought: or, from the other
side, thought to mean, though
the politeness was reciprocated.
Not quite the bland leading the
bland, but close enough. What
we have here acknowledges
those rules but is much more an-
gular, abrupt, an elbow to the
ribs. All politeness torn away:
the mask is empty; but the mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-75261100121271669582023-05-01T07:15:00.001+10:002023-05-01T07:15:55.518+10:00#511 La Gravitation Universelle
The wall is artifice, is illusion,
a masque to keep the forest
at bay — at least it seems that
way until the hunter gets his
arm stuck in it & Newton's
law of universal gravitation
kicks in. Or, equally, kicks
out. Allegorically, this could be
a depiction of the "first great
unification," a realization of
the attraction of particles. Or,
if you're so inclined, another
allegory, where Isaacmark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-90804290169032215322023-04-23T07:29:00.001+10:002023-04-23T07:29:49.377+10:00#510 The Emergence
"Put it into perspective," the
fado singer says as the white
bird wheels away & takes
the daytime with it. "Except
for the stars, the sky will be
empty now for several hours;
& though having a supposed
symbol of hope around might
at first seem comforting, grief
is best left to emerge when one
is in the open or beside the sea.
Clean, simple. No melodrama."
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-65444005312692830642023-04-16T07:54:00.001+10:002023-04-16T07:57:40.213+10:00#509 La Porte Ouverte
The painter, flushed with
pride from the achievement
of turning Venus de Milo in
to flesh before he posed her
in a meadow, finally recog-
nizes his hubris when the
shadow that has started
following him everywhere
makes him aware that any
statue can stand still for
long enough to have a beard
& mustache painted on them.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641949.post-50583354341184344492023-04-02T07:35:00.001+10:002023-04-03T11:26:39.998+10:00#508 The Childhood of Icarus
We lived in a house full of
models for, & details from,
paintings. Inside & out. My
father showed me how to
use the wings he built by
teaching me how to ride a
a horse & wield a whip.
Everything so large when I
was young, save for the Sun
which seemed so far away.
mark younghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10012564789159816002noreply@blogger.com0