Monday 24 December 2018

Thoughts in Progress

What if we were to wander onto the canvas of an artist painting a landscape? Stroll in at the precise moment when the painter is trying to capture the choreographic movement of a field of wheat? Would we be considered accidents, errors to be erased and painted over? Or would we be incorporated automatically into the piece?

That seems to be the dilemma facing Kate Northrop in Affair with Various Endings. Of course, her two lovers, meeting “outside Kempton, with the creek rising behind us?” have plenty of reasons not to want to be included in the painting. Editing reality out of a canvas is a form of lying, albeit benign. Editing our own reality in order to create a story that casts us in a good light is also a form of lying. At times like this I think of couples around the world attempting to erase the meaning of “the last of the light lifting this evening from the field of wheat”. Perhaps one is the painter and their view does not include the other one anymore.

To paraphrase Nick Cave, one of them is still a good muse, but the other one is still not much of a poet.




© 2019

25 comments:

  1. What a fascinating poem. Something to ponder this Christmas morning. Megathanks. And all the best of the season to you and yours.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Editing reality... a bit like trying to rewrite or erase history. Acknowledging the past is not the same as saying it was right or that we agree with it, but trying to pretend it didn't happen isn't right, either. We should be able to learn from our past and move forward from there.

    Wishing you and your family all the best in this holiday season and in the year to come.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting words and a fine image. Season's Greetings to you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Reality should not be edited when the truth is important, but stories also matter, don't you think...? I hope you've had a good Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kelly said it exactly right to my way of thinking, CiL. Any attempt to rewrite or to erase history or to edit reality infuriates me. And, perhaps you have hit on one reason I do not particularly care for abstract art. Their only reality is hidden in the mind of their creator.

    Merry Christmas, CiL ....

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really enjoyed reading what you posted, for I find it very well written!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Interesting. Is there a solution? Or a "real" reality?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fascinating poem; thanks so much for positing. In this digital age we can make "reality" look any way we want. Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fascinating questions that I will be thinking about all day! Wishing you a wonderful new year full of good things.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Te dejo mis mejores deseos de felicidad en estos días tan entrañables, que el 2019 sea muy bueno para ti y los tuyos.
    FELICES FIESTAS

    ReplyDelete
  11. Interesting question. it is a dilemma, that intruder.
    Another post that I enjoyed.

    A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Interesting post !I agree with Frams note.

    Wish you still some great holidays:)))

    ReplyDelete
  13. In today's world, it seems like a lot of people try to alter reality and depict "truths" as they seem them. Doesn't change the facts a bit, though, no matter how many tweets may be written in all caps. :)

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  14. hm, this made me think of our brains. Brains delete and ads "facts" as it pleases. Without our knowledge. We don´t even know we are manipulated by it. :(

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Doesn't sound like a good match.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What an interesting thought to contemplate!

    I hope your New Year is filled with good things!!!🎆 ALL the best to you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yes, makes me think of our thought processes...how often we do just that...think ourselves out of things we may have said or done that we're ashamed of, in order to be able to live with ourselves!
    This post certainty made me look a little deeper into my psyche.
    I found it thought provoking and very interesting.
    Many thanks, CiL!😊😊

    Wishing you a Happy New Year...from deepest Hampshire!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for introducing me to a new poet and band (and I will check out more of Kate Northrop's work). You mentioned the painter, but the old photographer who had to expose the glass for so long could miss the "movement" in the frame. Does that make it less real?

    Have a blessed new Year!

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Many thanks for the two links.
    The poem gives food for thought!
    I like the image you've used here too.

    My good wishes.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
  20. Lovely symmetry of words.
    Wishing you much creativity in 2019.

    ReplyDelete
  21. wishing you a happy healthy and prosperous year ahead dear Friend!
    lots of best wishes for your beautiful creative skills

    ReplyDelete
  22. Awesome! Yes, imagining ourselves in that landscape, it would be so beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Well written. I really looking for these kinds of posts for a long time. Thank you for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...