Gerald Locklin on the Other Side of the
Still Lifes of the 1870s
(with a nod to Jennifer Field)
Apples abound, even when off-center.
Pears are irregular, a-geometrical,
And protrude like cannons from the canvas.
Wallpaper patterns may decorate, distract,
Or disappear.
A basket is not a bowl is not a plate
Is not a tabletop.
A tablecloth may lie flat or fold into
Textures and planes. Its patterns may
Decorate, distract or disappear.
Sometimes Cézanne may almost mirror
Pissarro but instead darken, simplify,
Distribute (the apples, horizontally), empty
A quarter glass of wine, diagonal a knife from
Right to left, disturb a tablecloth, for pitcher
Substitute a glass and jug.
Sometimes amplify and diversify a classically
Simple bouquet, and, for depth, double the vase.
Eschew books and other personal intrusions.
Mainly Cézanne did or did not do
Whatever his friend had done or hadn't,
And both did what the Academie des Beaux-arts
Said that they shouldn't.
© Copyright Gerald Locklin 2006