something was there
without time – without body –
without place
lines overlap the open interiors of the loops
As they curve broadly toward the edges,
they visibly waver and shift
– a sensitivity
and continuous flow
– put a name on it, please –
ragged assemblage,
tattered battle flag,
scavenged cape.
Perhaps more to the point, it looks like
(working with the invisible)
a disembodied material, opening
to a range of new chromatic
and atmospheric possibilities,
a traditional corporeality – a tendency.
The wow and flutter of intentional choice
or limitations in unfamiliar territory
create woozy effects of countless
blurry-looking lines that have been woven together
in what seems like numerous threadlike strands of differentiated color
but is in fact
a monochrome field.
The result is dense, a perfectly smooth
factureless trompe l’oeil
always present in the mind
(perforation marks)
These punctures afford glimpses
of light shows, tree branches,
and the wall behind – composition
even in a moment of self-obliteration
manipulated by two people
(tenderhook) (self-portrait)
The affinities, the sense of
parallel purpose discovered by comparison
is one rather abrupt turn,
is exactly what the title says,
several rows one might almost take
as quirky abstraction, but once acknowledged
won’t go away.
More explicit is the night chant way,
a diagram oblique and freighted as its title,
painted onto a large black square in vivid reds,
yellows and purples – appearing as tally marks, Xs,
and various scratchings here and there
until historical flowers and coded “storms”
fall apart completely,
the margins of everyday life
nearly invisible,
uprooted
in the versions
of our statements
Art Source: Ambient Paintings, Diatonis Art
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Kelley has published three books of poetry: Mysterious Peripheries (Singing Horse Press, 2006), Venus Return (Vatic Hum Press, 1999), and Her Angel (Singing Horse Press, 1992). She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
[Poetry Break Editor Note]