Las Flores Rotas

 Tadeusz Makowski, "Study of a nude (Female half-nude)" (1912).In front of the sombre mountains, a faint, lost ribbon of      rainbowAnd between us and it, the thunder;And down below, in the green wheat, the laborersStand like dark stumps, still in the green wheat.You are near to me, and...

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  Turner, "The fighting temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 (1839)The gold stars are sleeping,The mirror-pond trembles,The dawn light comes creepingAnd heaven's net reddens.The birch-tree smiles sleepily,Her silk locks free-flowing,Green earrings are rustling,And silver dew glowing.Tall nettles by the fencingTheir bright pearls are flautingAnd...

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 Sarah Goodridge, "Beauty Revealed" (1828)"WHY should beauty endure,Once in its perfect actManifest and secure?"Although to-day retractThe breath that yesterdayInformed the body's fact,"Still from the angry claySome ripe significanceIs reaped and laid away,"Out of the husk of chanceDrawn clear, and purifiedOf earthy circumstance."So they said. I triedTo believe what...

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 Piero di Cosimo, "Portrait de femme dit de Simonetta Vespucci" (c. 1480)How have I labored?How have I not labored?To bring her soul to birth,To give theses elements a name and a centre!She is beautiful as the sunlight, and as fluid.She has no name, and no place.How have I...

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 Hans Baldung "Death and the Woman" (1520-25)IThe stars were wild that summer eveningAs on the low lake shore stood you and IAnd every time I caught your flashing eyeOr heard your voice discourse on anything It seemed a star went burning down the sky.I looked into your heart that...

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 Armand Guillaumin, "Le Pont De Charenton, Ile De France" (s/f)The eager note on my door said "Call me,call when you get in!" so I quickly threwa few tangerines into my overnight bag,straightened my eyelids and shoulders, andheaded straight for the door. It was autumnby the time I got...

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Mikuláš Galanda, "Family" (1930-1932)on the phone from prison my father asksif i am happy. every conversationyields the same weight. how can i saythat i'm not, that i take everythingfor granted while he stays frozenin plexiglass through his lifeand the next. i kill himover and over again in my...

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 Whistler, "London Bridge" (1881)Kneel down, fair Love, and fill thyself with tears,Girdle thyself with sighing for a girthUpon the sides of mirth,Cover thy lips and eyelids, let thine earsBe filled with rumour of people sorrowing;Make thee soft raiment out of woven sighsUpon the flesh to cleave,Set pains therein...

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 Henri Martin, "Étude por 'La Moisson'" (1919)I remember after people are gone thinking of things I should have said but didn't.I remember having a casual chat with God every night and usually falling asleep before I said, "Amen".I remember that my father's favorite movie star was Rita Hayworth.  I...

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 Johann von Tscharner, "The Resting One" (1924)For years I have seendead animals on the highwayand grieved for themonly to realize they arenot dead animalsthey are t shirtsor bits of blown tireand I have foundmyself with thisexcess of griefI have made withno object to letit spill over andI have...

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    NOT that I love thy children, whose dull eyes See nothing save their own unlovely woe, Whose minds know nothing, nothing care to now, — But that the roar of thy Democracies, Thy reigns of Terror, thy great Anarchies, Mirror my wildest passions like the sea And...

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 Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, "Lady Reading on a Bench"On the bedA bowl of good peachesLuscious as the red curtainMelting over the open windowWhere your reflection distortsLike cruel comedyAnd the letter you holdImports the death sceneOf someone you were supposed to loveYet your face is so yellowGo on sweetLeave...

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 Egon Schiele, "Death and girl" (1915)What if I lost all those thingsHumor, wit, beautyWhat if I lost it allAnd there was nothing left of meAnd what if I were just a corpseAnd what if I were less than thatWould you still love meWould you tunnel into the groundUntil...

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 2Cornelis Van Poelenburch, "The Expulsion from Paradise" (after 1646)I remember very old people when I was very young. Their houses smelled funny.I remember a boy. He worked in a store. I spent a fortune buying things from him I didn't want. Then one day he wasn't there anymore.I...

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 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, "Tavern" (1909)I remember my first erections. I thought I had some terrible disease or something.I remember how good a glass of water can taste after a dish of ice cream.I remember when I went to a "come as your favorite person" party as Marilyn Monroe. I...

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 Utagawa Kunisada, "Black" (1847-1852)They asked me if I was on fire and I said No no no nono no no I did not want to make trouble I was lying I wason fire on my legs and on my hands I was ashamed I triedto hide my legs...

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 James Ensor, "Skeletons Fighting over the Body of a Hanged Man" (1891)9 am mimosabuoyed sourstomach acidpouring overon a red eyeinto massivecoronary i'ma bull's ballsat a rodeodrinking froma broken glasssomeone told mego to spainfor the beachesand the livingi would ratherlive in swedenin the summerlonger daysLeonard Morrison. Columbia Poetry Review,...

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 François-Nicolas Chifflart, "Meditations" (1865)                                               Nobody is missing from the garden. Nobody is here:only the green and black winter, the daywaking from sleep like a ghost,a white...

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  Edvard Munch, "Knelende kvinneakt" (1921)                                                 without the rain       i undress the night myself like the skin of bruised fruit      i can’t...

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