Monet at Giverny 1-4 /16

“Though lovers be lost, love shall not;
and Death shall have no Dominion.”
Dylan Thomas 

Monet at Giverny
1-4 /16

1

his lily pond
a mirror shattering
shards of clouds
flames beneath the lilies
fractured fish

2

the executioner stripes evening
a+cross the sacrificed horizon

in blood we were born
in earth will we rest

our flesh turned to bread
empurpled this imperial wine
streaming with day’s death
these troubled waters

3

green footprints the lily pads
a halo
this drowned man’s beard
liquescent

like the gods
he dreamed
he walked dry over water

flowering goldfish
this thin line of cloud

4

maples flash ruby thoughts
ripples flowing outward
as heavy as a henge

this altar tumbling
downwards
through a liquid sky

5 thoughts on “Monet at Giverny 1-4 /16

  1. Beautifully complex. ( ; I am not sure what these two lines mean: the executioner stripes evening / a cross the sacrificed horizon. Perhaps “across” ? Still, i am not sure what striping an evening means, nor why the horizon is sacrificed, or what that means. Doesn’t stop me from enjoying the poem, though. Thanks, Roger. -@

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    • Interesting comment, allison … I guess I am mixing metaphors and cultures here. The executioner also whipped the criminals during the time of the Inquisition in Spain. He was called a ‘painter of flesh’ because the flesh turned red with blood under the lashes. The a cross is deliberate with several meanings tied in, including the X pattern some executioners favored. Hope that helps, though I now think it complicates rather than simplifies.

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