Jorie Graham and Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt is an amazingly talented artist. You can view the same painting of his over and over and find some beautiful new detail each time. It is easy to see how a poet would be inspired to write about his artwork. Jorie Graham chose to compose a poem inspired by two of Gustav Klimt's paintings, and weave the two together through her words. Klimt's art is full of expression, color, detailed images and beauty, which translate into a poem that touches your senses with it's imagery. Jorie Graham found a common thread, "the blue air, the yellow trees," and "The fabric....it's blues and yellows," and she also compares the chips on the bark on the beech trees to the flaws of a beautiful human body, which was present in the second painting. It is interesting how she chose to take these so very different paintings and blend them into a poem that can be interpreted in many ways. It would be fun to see how different artists would illustrate the poem with no prior knowledge of the art it was based on. The image in my mind was one of a forest of trees with abstract human figures blended among them almost imperceptibly except for one with flowing beauty and color. Quite different than the actual art of the paintings "Beeches" and "The Bride" which were painted by Gustav Klimt and written about by Jorie Graham. Gustav Klimt produced many pieces of art and a painting of his recently sold for 135 million dollars to an Ronald S. Lauder of the Estee Lauder cosmetics company. The painting a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, an Austrian socialite, was done in 1907. Lauder has said this portrait is the Mona Lisa of his collection. Having viewed many Gustav Klimt's art at various online galleries I was drawn to "Mother and Child" a detailed part of his painting "The Three Ages of Women". Gutav Klim't artworkan be viewed at http://www.gustavklimtcollection.com/pages/main.html .

"One Train May Hide Another"

When I read this poem as part of our assignments this week I found it long winded and boring. I read it more than once and even though I understood the message that Koch was presenting, I thought he could have gotten his point across in a much shorter dialogue. I was glad that I was given the task of listening to him recite his poem. Hearing it, rather than just staring at the words made the meaning more apparent. Listening to Koch recite the poem was a bit more enjoyable. One thing that I noticed was that I did not even notice the line at the top "sign at a railroad crossing in Kenya" when I read the poem and then realized how important it was when the poem was recited. The rambling that I first read took on a new tone, the poem still rambled but I came to feel that Koch was an intellectual who was just letting his feelings about so mny subjects spill out onto the paper. He wanted everyone to know that not everything is clear at first glance and that we should all take a step back and think before making a snap decision, because that decision could change our lives forever and not always for the best. The poem could probably have been reduced to several lines and had the same impact. The closing lines,
"You think, Now it is safe to cross and you are hit by the next one. It can be important; To have waited at least a moment to see what was already there.",make a very powerful statement.
Now that I have reread my post I think that Koch's rambling has rubbed off on me!

"The Weary Blues"

I really enjoyed the video of Langston Hughes' "The Weary Blues". The visual images of NYC, specifically Harlem during what appears to be the 1930's -1940's were excellent. They really helped to set the tone and the background for the poem. The black and white film adds a symbolic tone, and made me more aware of the the reference to "with his ebony hands on each ivory key". Something I noticed right away was the large number of white people in the audience scene. After looking up information the Apollo Theatre I learned that when the Apollo was first opened blacks were not allowed. This really shocked me I always thought of the Apollo as a predominately black venue. The image of the woman's silhouette on the screen behind the musicians was mesmerizing. Her sway was in motion with the "lazy sway", in the lines of the poem. I also loved how the trombone was used when the speaker refereed to the "droning tune". Hearing the poem and seeing Cab Calloway was an interesting perspective, his movements were appropriate for the rhythm of the speaker. After viewing it several times and listening to the words once again, I was left with the impression that the musician in the poem only feels alive when he is performing. Singing the Blues is what keeps "a black man's soul", alive and when he stops singing, "he slept like a rock or a man that's dead", signifies to me that he is his music.