Poetry, History, Mythology
Unfinished Michelangelo The impossible bodies of apostles, messiahs and slaves, statues that couldn’t have stood had he finished them, faces half buried in membranes of marble that threaten to swallow and take them back; bodies climbing without hands or feet or legs out of the mineral morass in the great struggle for birth: a nearly … Continue reading Unfinished Michelangelo (poem)
Here are two of my favorite poems from Bone Antler Stone: one on the famous ice age “Venus” figurines from 20-30,000 years ago, and another on a shipwreck from 1300 BC. You can order the entire collection here, or find more poems from the book here. Female Figurines for Evie Hum the words with me and … Continue reading Female Figurines and a Shipwreck: Two Poems from “Bone Antler Stone”
Scroll through this selection of preliminary studies & photos of the canvas as it was worked on & completed. Pretty astonishing, & all done in about five weeks. Continue reading Images: Watch Picasso’s “Guernica” Emerge
Taken from John Richardson’s biographies of Picasso: Continue reading Images: Picasso Mostly in Pencil
The Austrian artist Egon Schiele’s bizarre and brutal self-portraits, many dating from before World War One, seem to presage all the carnage and atrocity and alienation that were to come. And even as the more famous artists from the period, and their perhaps “better” work still feels dated and rooted to the time they were … Continue reading Images: Egon Shiele Predicts the 20th Century
The way I heard it, Salvador Dali saw a reproduction of Millet’s The Angelus in his classroom during childhood, and it became one of his great personal images: Continue reading Images: The Painting Salvador Dali Couldn’t Get Away From
From childhood through old age: Continue reading Images: Dürer’s Self-Portraits
Three different but marvelous ways of getting it done: Continue reading Images: 3 Impressionist Street Scenes
For anyone who has ever worked retail and customer service, you’ll recognize the look on the face of this barmaid from Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère: Continue reading Images: Manet Does Customer Service
Many thanks to the editors of Crannóg, who published my poem “Cauldron & Drink” in their most recent issue. It’s one of my favorites from my upcoming book of poems from old Europe. For readers outside of Ireland and the UK, I’ve pasted an image from the journal below, although I would encourage everyone to … Continue reading “Cauldron & Drink” – New Poem at Crannóg
SAY IT WITH ME: THIS IS SATIRE! I’ve been silent long enough. When college students complained in 2015 that the Asian-themed food in their cafeteria was a mockery and appropriation of a grand culinary tradition, I said nothing. College students have no money after all, why should they complain about bad food, no matter its … Continue reading If You Don’t Believe in Cultural Appropriation, You’re Wrong: A Satire
Entries in the Anthology series organize my favorite anecdotes about artists, writers, and historical events, and are always being updated. While I love and depend on the exhaustive biography or study, in many ways the disconnected stories and fragments have been more important in my day-to-day living with art, literature and history. As such, nothing … Continue reading Albrecht Dürer
Entries in the Anthology series organize my favorite anecdotes about artists, writers, and historical events, and are always being updated. While I love and depend on the exhaustive biography or study, in many ways the disconnected stories and fragments have been more important in my day-to-day living with art, literature and history. As such, nothing … Continue reading Edward Hopper
