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Elemental Influences

                   Elemental Influences                   (After: J.M.W. Turner)        Five harbours seen from seawards; ship’s-eye views Of Scarborough andWhitbyin the North, Sheerness, Ramsgate andPortsmouthin the South.      The ports themselves are incidental here; The artist’s interests seem unconcerned With what these places represent in terms Of shelter, […]

The Last Supper

                      The Last Supper                    (After: Salvador Dali)        He sits at table, with his back towards The open gable-end, through which are seen The fading pastels of an evening sky.      His acolytes, before him and beside,      Ponder the mystery that he declares: “This bread and wine are flesh and […]

The Belvedere

                              The Belvedere                          (After: M.C. Escher)        These perspectival flexibilities confirm, Even as they confuse, the view. Their interlinked Impossibilities of structural design Create illusions of reality where none Can be. In which direction is this place aligned?. And is […]

St Anthony

                      St Anthony                (After: SalvadorDali)   Such terrible hallucinations came to haunt The holy anchorite, in his hot desert cell, He thought that he was going mad from loneliness.      Voluptuous houris danced before his eyes, both day      And night, lasciviously luring him to […]

Bond of Union

                        Bond of Union                      (After: M.C. Escher)   Joined by a seamless bond, yet each distinct, The artist and his wife appear, (stylised      In three dimensional transparency      Pre-dating holographic imagery), Linked at both brow and neck; the spiral band Binds them more […]

Flaming June

                     Flaming June                (After: Lord Leighton)   Like Summer sunlight shining on a scene      Of coastal sunset beauty, there she lies      In shimmer-colours, somnolently calm; Orange, auburn, red, pale pink, with silver Highlights reflecting from smooth waves, and shades Of shadowed green and […]

Isometrics

                        Isometrics                 (Sentimental Values)        It’s really not a picture worthy of the name; Five crudely figurative, annotated forms, Sketched thinly on pink paper in black ink, with no Æsthetic content that can be perceived therefrom. It must have some extrinsical significance That […]

Impossible Cuboid

                          Impossible Cuboid                          (After: M.C. Escher)   The cube is simply outlined; just its form – A black void where its solid planes should be      And all around its enigmatic shape –      In spectral colours red, gold, green and blue, Contingently […]

Polyphemus

                                   Polyphemus                            (After: J.W.M. Turner)        At dawn they’d spiked his Cyclopean eye As he still deeply dreamed in stupored sleep. Sightlessly bloodied, he had heard their shouts As, from beneath his giant sheep, they dropped And […]

Hylas

                                 Hylas             (After: J.W. Waterhouse)        Leaving his fellow-Argonauts hunting fresh food Nearer the shore, (himself intent on water clean And cool), he chanced upon a lily-flowered pool Deep in the shady forest. As he filled his flask […]

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