A new painting, Braque vs. Octopus, oil on linen, 72" X 84"
Copyright 2022 by Douglas Florian
A Poetry and Painting Commotion
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Giaconda by Rene Magritte, 1953 For Poetry Friday, over at Poem Farm, I'm posting another of my physics poems in the newly published Guys Read: True Stories, edited by Jon Scieszka (cover art below). It's titled Gravity, speaking of which I have a question. In Magritte's painting, Giaconda, are the bowlerized men falling, rising, or perhaps merely floating? Maybe they're turning in space, as they face different directions.
Gravity
The opposite of levity
Supposedly is gravity.
For levity means "lightness, mirth,"
While gravity means "down to earth."
And if it simply
Wasn't there,
We'd float like blimps
Up in the air.
And though it's great,
I think, to fly,
The birds might hate
To share the sky.
And with your head
Below your feet,
It might be difficult to eat.
To see your food float out of sight
Would surely hurt your appetite.
I'll bet your sleep
Inside a cloud
Would not be deep
When things got loud.
For thunderclaps
Would hurt your head
While you were sleeping
In your bed.
Let's stick with gravity instead.
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Jacket art copyright © 2014 by Brian Floca |
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Marc Chagall, The Poet Reclining, 1915. |