THE NIGHT CAFE
***
Green pool table holds
The red center that impels
Nightmares to the wall
*
SELF-PORTRAIT
***
Stranger in the mirror
Attacked me with daylight knives
He slashed my pink ear
***
Stranger in the mirror
Attacked me with daylight knives
He slashed my pink ear
*
FIELD WITH CROWS
****
Dark deep horizon
Crows hang suspended darkly
Above sunshine corn.
FIELD WITH CROWS
****
Dark deep horizon
Crows hang suspended darkly
Above sunshine corn.
*
EDGE OF A WOOD
****
Cypress sentinels
Blocking my enemy's route
Protects my home road
****
Cypress sentinels
Blocking my enemy's route
Protects my home road
 |
| Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night |
****
Ethereal stars
Whorling lights in the night sky
Promise other worlds!
Van Gogh photos of paintings courtesy of ibiblio.org
The majority (if not all) of Van Gogh's paintings are copyright expired and are in the public domain.
The majority (if not all) of Van Gogh's paintings are copyright expired and are in the public domain.
Vivid imagery. I especially like the third haiku.
ReplyDeleteLovley, especially when you can put the Haiku with the paintings too.
ReplyDeleteI took your suggestion and put each of the specific paintings. You can see them larger if you click on them. I realized there are so many self portraits, I had to choose the correct one. A couple are not as "famous" as the others - the Night Cafe with pool table, and Edge of Woods are probably less well known. I found it interesting to note that in Paris in the early 1900s poets and painters worked together to voice changes in "modernism". The poet spoke, the painter painted; they met in cafes and talked and stayed warm, and then the painter painted and the poet spoke of it. I took my cue from that. It was a good exercise I think.
DeleteWow! It's like you were anticipating this prompt. Great job!
ReplyDeletehttp://charleslmashburn.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/black-words/
Really enjoyed your wonderfully descriptive haikus--all spot on and perfect!!
ReplyDeleteAll good, every one
ReplyDeleteI would have never thought to have done this with some of my favorite inspirational people. Well, done you have brought his work back to me. I forget some of their existence sometimes, thanks.
ReplyDeletenice...the corn fields one is my fav...def minimalist...i need to work on that...simple elegant...well done gay
DeleteGreat descriptions of some amazing artwork.
ReplyDeleteThese short bursts pay tribute to paintings that stunned the world to consciousness.
ReplyDeleteso cool gay..all of them are very vivid..hard to pick a fav but i just love the contrast of the wheat field with crows..the deep horizon, crows hanging suspended (magnificent) and the sunshine corn, captures the warmth to aptly
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed each of these, Gay. I think "Self Portrait" hit me the strongest with the mention of the 'stranger in the mirror.' Strong writing to Van Gogh!
ReplyDeleteThis IS my favorite. Your blog is so beautiful ... strongly colorful! It is like: "wake up and see the sunshine." Love it! Raven
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind comments. I will try to read those of yours I haven't visited yet. I appreciate your comments about my blog, Raven. It changes often as I like to play with fonts, colors and visuals. Feel free to stop by my other blog, too. It's here: Beachanny's Texas - http://hollyheir.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteGay, my heart always skips a beat when I see anything relating to Vincent. These are just wonderful little paintings of his paintings. Sometimes when I was docenting, I had the kids write haikus of what they saw in a painting. I can't really pick a favorite...love them all.
ReplyDeleteYou chose the perfect artist for the imagery poems, and did justice to each one. I really like the effect of the pool table repelling dreams (or nightmares?) to the walls. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, blogspot is becoming really difficult to post comments on or even to scroll down and read a page. IT's happened with several I've been following in the last couple of days.
These are beautiful! I love Field with Crows.
ReplyDeleteI love "daylight knives."
ReplyDeleteI like these interpretations of the drawings. In three short lines sum up and give it a mood and meaning. Self Portrait is one that stands out for me, the self seen as a stranger in the mirror, I imagine the hallucination of light beams seen as knives or seemingly the slashing motion of daggers.
ReplyDeleteYes, I read that Vincent began having headaches and that light and sound became unbearable. He was fixated on using himself as a model to record his mental state and because he couldn't afford models. I extrapolated from there into the "stranger in the mirror". I think it's my favorite of this set. I quite like the last, too. I know the song took up this painting in its many aspects, but I felt I'd found the accurate word with "condolences".
DeleteExcellent micropoems! They stand without the paintings, which means they truly work.
ReplyDeleteLove these Gay... I especially like Self-Portrait and the corn one.
ReplyDeletehi Gay - i must say the presentation of this exploration is excellent and really supports the work... which i adore - a great idea and as a believer in the dialectic process of artists speaking to one another, thus beating the time space thingy, i loved, from the concept onward, and of course choosing one of the greatest ever as a subject... well it harms thee not - micropoems is a great description... i may even try my hand at a punchy packet... thanks gay - hope you are well :)
ReplyDeleteThis feels so weird, but just wanted to let you know that I've used one of your posts as part of the basis for one of mine on The Gooseberry Garden (http://gooseberrygoespoetic.blogspot.com/2012/01/thursday-poetry-forms-poetry-for_25.html)... I've somehow managed to get myself roped into doing poetry form posts there and just did the Pantoum today... Wanted to let you know that I tried to give you credit for my fascination with that form. *blushing* Thank you, once again!
ReplyDeletelovely, Gay. I especially like Edge of a Wood. The woods make me feel this way.
ReplyDeleteyou took on Vincent...a hero...a legend... and described his pictures so perfectly...so succinctly. You demonstrate how power, atmosphere and image can be packed so tightly into such a small space- but you put your on interpretation on it- so you are imagining what he was thinking when he painted those images. So clever
ReplyDeleteMy favourite
Cypress sentinels
Blocking my enemy's route
Protecting my home