Jesionowski & Eberhardt – Aug. 15
David Eberhardt and Mary Jesionowski traded art and words. Mary shared this image, entitled “Ancient Rites I,” with David:
In response, David wrote this poem:
Death came as you prophesied; it wasn’t that bad!
Remember the times when you fell asleep?
A terrain where you walked, then slid,
A minor death beneath your lids?
You thought you could observe, but you never could!
You gathered final images around:
“Romance has bloomed on stonier ground”?
“Ashes, ashes, we all fall down”.
Paul Atriedes, ocean planets, planets all dune?
Practice by counting your breaths until you get close…
Think yoga, count backwards but you’ll never find out
Door/hidden garden/ “we all fall down”, but
Rehearsing the end, all’s already been said:
In a dream you fell sleeping and then you are dead.
* * * * * *
David shared this poem, inspired by The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais, with Mary:
Blind Girl
“Pity the blind,” they say, as well,
“The one eyed man is free” in our kingdom…
At night, regard the flashes behind your lids-
A bow stretched tight against the clouds?
Sister purple in chrome fields- the Queen must die;
From earth to earth we must return;
Your ochre dress, your accordion;
Fourth star out- Eta Carinae.
You cared for me, Mireille, ‘though you were blind-
You did not need to search- I was the restless one..
I tear away- look at the sky you cannot see-
The double rainbow, bright field of wheat.
After a storm, we put the two
Into the cairn, with countless seashells;
Beneath two great stone menhirs/dolmens- in stone rows;
As was our custom for the dead.
Boar mandibles, red deer antlers and we sang:
The four stars arrange themselves against the replicants;
These women were our Gods in dreams.
The butterfly, a “tortoise-shell” that
Landed on her shawl that day.
She sat so still…satori still.
The same fly lands on the anchor/pilot stone,
The stone a boat through years of light.
Guide stars lead us between the henge;
Two Queens sit beside a lemon field-
The blind Queen leads, as in a game of chess;
The younger sister wears a purple dress.
It all matters- in the order of things-
As they must- even the crows,
Strut purposefully as covenants;
A double rainbow promises bounty for this year!
those assembled for the ceremony repeat the chant:
“A double rainbow insures our bounty for the year.”
In response, Mary created this image, entitled “Ancient Rites II”:
hope you all will google Millais’ “The Blind Girl”- a stupendously deep and meaningful work-like Vermeer’s “The Lacemaker” both are religious works (crows symbolize resurrection)
my favorite artist is Wifredo Lam- as to individual works- Gauguin- The White Horse, much in Hopper and Wyeth, Francis Bacon, surprise as in Ernst-” Mary Spanking the Baby Jesus, Rothko
I can see abstraction but find it a bit decorative- as Bacon called Pollock- the “lacemaker” (but not like Vermeer’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
the darkness in Mary’s work makes the blazes of light more meaningful (see 2 stars under the henge?)- a sombre palette-
in the longer poem i also refer to if you would google it yu will see mesolithic burial at teviec
i find it wonderful how Millais uses yellow as does Van Gogh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such an intense hue- where does it take us?
the 2 maidens capture the yearning for a good harvest
Ten multiple graves were discovered at Téviec containing a total of 23 individuals, including adults and children.[9] Some of the remains were scattered between different locations.[1] Several of those interred appear to have died violent deaths.[10] One individual was found to have a flint arrowhead stuck in a vertebra. In another grave, the skeletons of two women aged 25–35, dubbed the “ladies of Téviec”,[6] were found with signs of violence on both. One had sustained five blows to the head, two of which would have been fatal, and had received at least one arrow shot between the eyes. The other had also traces of injuries.[11] However, this diagnosis is disputed by some archaeologists, who have suggested that the weight of earth above the grave may have been responsible for damaging the skeletons.[12]
The bodies had been buried with great care in a pit that was partly dug into the ground and covered over with debris from the midden. They had been protected by a roof made of antlers and provided with a number of grave goods including pieces of flint and boar bones, and jewellery made of sea shells drilled and assembled into necklaces, bracelets and ringlets for the legs.[6] The grave assemblage was excavated from the site in one piece and is now on display at the Muséum de Toulouse, where its restoration in 2010 earned a national award.
I find the 2 girls in the Millais painting as sacred as were the two maidens at Teviec-it is horrifying to think of the ignorance of our ancestors (6000 yrs ago) untilo we can see it in our own state legislatures and representatives.