I apologize for the long lapse between posts, but sometimes real life and work can make greater demands on my time ... and from a financial perspective, that's a good thing.
Also, I've finally taken the plunge and bought my own domain. My hope is to turn the soon-to-be-unveiled, self-named site into a repository for my various creative endeavors. Once it's ready, this blog may revert to its original form as a place for personal essays and social commentary, but stay tuned.
In the mean time, here's the much-awaited (I hope) companion poem to the last drawing.
A ragged suitor
By Francis Scudellari
A ragged suitor dragged, by time not love,
To this altar, his waning flame carried
In crack-cupped hand, a shaky, blue-veined shield
Raised up against stillness dispelling drafts
A lack-clad minister re-called, he casts
Meager light into deep-throated darkness,
Among flickered shadows glimpses, not god,
Not man, an untried path hidden between
Unprotected, preyed on by sudden gust,
Musty air mingling with his own moist breath,
A last exhaled sigh, his votive extinguished,
Acrid black curls drift up from bent, singed wick
Trickled stream of pink wax, glacial flow, fills
Crevices of reflex-clutched hands, preserves,
In translucent shell, the now spent casing
His soul discards as, burned off, it leaps free
8 comments:
Exquisite poem, perfect up to the last crevices...can't say more... such genius, such talent. It is in perfect harmony with the drawing.
Kudos for a wonderful work of art.
I can't say it any better than Jen did above.
Simply outstnding Francis.
Congrats on the new site. I can't wait to se it!!
excellent piece..it read well..and good luck with the domain..it's struggle at times but worth it in the end..:)
@Jena Thanks for the high praise. It's probably closer to madness than genius :).
@Shinade It's going to take me a little while to get the site up, but it's long overdue. It won't be the most easily found site with a name like francisscudellari.com, but I figured it was best to use the full thing.
@Robert I'm doing a Joomla install, so I'm sure I'll be pulling my hair out shortly as I try to tweak the look of the default templates. At least I've got plenty of content to put up.
Great!
You mentioned in your comments on the drawing that the phallus interpretation is perhaps inevitable when drawing something like that but it's more than that isn't it?
I know I'm a filthy beast sometimes but there *is* sexual reference in almost every silky crevice of the accompanying poem... isn't there?
Perhaps I need to take have some tea and calm down. :)
Seriously though, the opporunity to see the drawing for a slightly longer period and *then* contemplate the verse makes the two all the more accessible and rewarding.
Ken,
There was a very intentional mixing of romantic metaphors with a more spiritual message. I don't know that I set out to write anything overtly or covertly sexual, but the imagery is hard to avoid. The symbols are abundantly repeated throughout the natural world.
And no matter what I consciously intended, there's always the very tricky bit of subconscious meaning. The way I write these is very prone to bringing the unexpected to the surface.
I agree that it's worthwhile to let these posts stay at the top for a few days, but I'm also driven to keep the content fresh ... so I'm conflicted. I think the new domain will help me balance the two impulses.
Excellent Francis.
Sometimes life interferes with the blogs but if not for life we really wouldn't be very interesting bloggers.
yay for the domain.
Yikes - Joomla though.... good luck to you.
Thanks Cooper. I'm pretty excited about the domain. And as long as I don't get to crazy tweaking the default template, I can have the site up pretty quickly. That and finding the time to work on it :).
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