Friday, April 16, 2010

deliquescence (iii)






in everything that begins
and
in everything that falls apart

deteriorates

comes to pieces

we're granted
a vision
of endlessness

in the event horizon
that is
flaking layers of paint
are revealed
pale carmine ripples
of age and decay


in the slow return
from form to formlessness
is revealed something
beyond the crumbling surface

much as
my tired eyes

creased by smile wrinkles

reveal something
of
who i was

and who i am



all finite things reveal infinitude:
the mountain with its singular bright shade
like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow,
the after-light upon ice-burdened pines;
odor of basswood on a mountain-slope,
a scent beloved of bees;
silence of water above a sunken tree :
the pure serene of memory in one man, --
a ripple widening from a single stone
winding around the waters of the world.

excerpted from "the far field" theodore rothke


24 comments:

Jenny Stevning said...

These photos would make great papers to use in a collage! Lovely!

Delwyn said...

Hi Steven

when I saw your title I thought oh goody more deliquescence ...

(a word the blog dictionary does not know)

I have been seeing rainbows the last few days...and they are great examples of deliquescence in action...


I like the little blue fish in the top corner of #2

happy days

Dave King said...

I was going to congratulate you on another masterpiece, but it's actually 4 masterpieces, 3 visual and the poem. Each is very moving in its own right, together they are something else. I'm going back for another look. Congrats again!

steven said...

jenny i've always been drawn to flaking painted surfaces and at one point i wished i could make my own paintings look like that. steven

steven said...

delwyn - you're a wordy just like me!! i know that you've been a fan of deliquescence and i agree that rainbows are a lovely, free version of it. i'm glad you enjoyed your visit! steven

steven said...

dave thankyou. steven

Aleks said...

But you do paint Steven even if its not by brush or melting metal you do melt the beauty around you and in you perfectly to these road signs,on someone's path!! So much of everything,the whole world of who you was and who you are!! Grandiose! Have a wonderful weekend!
Aleksandra (O:

willow said...

Your photos are fabulous, Steven!!! Combined with the Rothke, they are ethereal.

Elisabeth said...

Ah such colours here, Steven, broken refracted and transfused. Thanks.

Jinksy said...

Words and pictures dissolve one into the other even as the layers of paint - exquisite!

Dan Gurney said...

Seeing the stunning beauty of things falling apart is not as easy as seeing the beauty of things coming together. But to see the true beauty of a flower, you must see the compost in it, that a flower is made of compost and vice versa.

These photos and words really point the way! What a perfect image: a face wrinkled by smiling!

steven, I really enjoyed reading these words, and lingering over your images.

Titus said...

steven, sometimes your pictures move beyond photography and into somewhere else entirely. This is one of those occasions. Images I could look at all day - thank you.

Barry said...

I appear to be deep in deliquescence at the moment. Nice to know it has a poetic element to it.

You have revived my spirits once again Steven.

Reya Mellicker said...

I am such a rothke fan. Thanks for this. The end is the beginning. It is!!

hope said...

I love the colors of this...and that you admit having "smile wrinkles".

Can't imagine you ever frowning. :)

steven said...

aleks - thanks for this thoughtful comment. i paint. hmmmm. i love the acrylic painting. i love the feeling of priming and stretching a canvas. i love the moment of touching the primed canvas with colour. then with feeling that colour into shape. there are similarities with photography and writing and melding the two forms into a blog. hmmmmm. steven

steven said...

willow thankyou! these pictures were taken on an old railway bridge about ten kilometres from here. i love decay. strange i know but it tells so many stories! steven

steven said...

elisabeth - the layers of a stories and experiences told in a peice of old metal. it's like trees and people for me. different senses of the same story. steven

steven said...

jinksy - i love rothke's writing and it connected so deeply for me with the photographs. i had to see and feel them together. like setting up a couple. steven

steven said...

dan - one piece of the puzzle of the golden fish is to be able to share the seemingly unpleasant or ugly alongside the obviously lovely. this is a first effort that way. i'm not attuned to the seemingly unpleasant and i want to be able to see that much more of the world that includes the falling apart, the forgotten, the neglected because its there that real riches lie. intuitively i think that. thanks for your thoughtful comment dan. steven

steven said...

titus - thankyou so much for that generous comment. i write with my own voice, see with my own eyes and then sometimes someone else moves inside that part of the present moment and shares it. there you are. steven

steven said...

barry from my own perspective deliquescence is a state we are all in from the moment of birth. i'm alright with that. not knowing what time i have helps me focus on the present experiencing of this moment. here i am. as i am. what i am. where i am. that's all i know!!! steven

steven said...

reya - rothke rocks!!! an ending is a beginning. they're indistinguishable. have a lovely dc evening. steven

steven said...

oh hope i sometimes puzzle, sometimes wonder. i don't get angry. i do get frustrated, disappointed, confused . . . but i'm essentially a happy grateful person!!!! steven