An Art Show and a Poem

This Saturday I went to the Faculty Art Show at FCC.  It was a lot of fun.  I got to say hi to the teachers I knew and see if I could recognize their pieces based on the style.  There was a jazz band and food (though no tiny eclairs, more's the pity.)  Visiting art shows bring out the temptation to introduce oneself as Bond.  James Bond.  They make one feel classy.

It's awfully easy to look at a piece that's really abstract, glance around to see if anyone else can make out what it's supposed to be, then mutter something about the inner workings of the soul.  Later you find out that the piece was an experiment in texture and you get to feel silly.  Or you never find out and spend the rest of your life hoping the fact that you found Texture IV impossible to understand doesn't mean you're washed up as a serious art student. 

Some time ago I wrote a poem about Dali's picture of melting clocks.  

                  Ruminating on a Portrait of Time

The dead clocks
Ooze across the table
Dripping moments and hours
Into a void of gray

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The world is flat
Colorless and empty.
The drip of melting hours
Echo loud in the stillness.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

It is summer.  The relentless sun
Beats at the dust hazed windows.
For all his harshness he cannot disturb
The echoing quiet.

It is summer but no one turns on the fan.


So there you have it.  My attempt at poetry.  After I wrote it, I read it out loud to my best friend in a very serious voice.  She listened solemnly right up until the last line -and burst out laughing. 

Sometimes art is impenetrable.  Other times you get exactly the reaction you're hoping for.