Gerald Locklin on the Other Side of the
Cézanne: The Artist's Father
Joachim Pissarro points out
That l'evenement, the liberal rag
The artist's dad is reading
Is where Zola had defended
The paintings of the impressionists as works,
As the productions of "serious workers,"
In a Marxist sense,
Whose work had as much true
Economic, social, ideological,
And humane/progressive value
As the efforts of any of the other members
Of the working class.
And I would agree with the truth of that
For Cézanne and Monet and Manet and Degas
And van Gogh and just about any of the artists
Whose names have endured long enough
To spring to mind,
But I sure know plenty of self-appointed artists
And, worse, poets, of our own time
Whose "work" is of value only to themselves...
No, wait, they may in fact just be wasting
Their entire lifetimes when they could be doing
Something, anything that they are better at,
just as I gave up the piano for drinking.
And I tend to agree with the steam-plant welders
Whom I used to drink with at the 49ers Tavern
near the university:
"Locklin," they would chorus, whenever I would
Lament essay grading or committee meetings,
Or the lack of respect accorded the contemporary poet,
"You've never done an honest day's work
In your life."
© Copyright Gerald Locklin 2006