I began with verse about Wyeth's Christina
but I couldn't see her face, and I've never been to Maine
though her twisted body pains me
then I flew to the opposite coast
summoned by the memory of a ghost:
my best friend at Bodega Bay, one fine day
forty Augusts gone
he threw a Frisbee to his Airedale
and we ate sprout sandwiches, avoiding the foul
karma from the slaughter of beeves,
hogs, he said
I would like to relive that day,
with its blue dusk, but the clock can't be rewound
and he is not to be found on the great Pacific
kin who barely knew his face
chose his final space--a hot hole on Oklahoma
prairies, not far from his drunken father
and others who never saw him watch
the sun sink gold into the sea
in my head I'll exhume him,
maybe return him to the waves
that reclaim all things
or introduce him to Christina
a continent away--he could help me know her
though her eyes face another world
Dec 12, 2015
Dec 12, 2015 at 4:28 PM UTC
I began with verse about Wyeth's Christina
but I couldn't see her face, and I've never been to Maine
though her twisted body pains me
then I flew to the opposite coast
summoned by the memory of a ghost:
my best friend at Bodega Bay, one fine day
forty Augusts gone
he threw a Frisbee to his Airedale
and we ate sprout sandwiches, avoiding the foul
karma from the slaughter of beeves,
hogs, he said
I would like to relive that day,
with its blue dusk, but the clock can't be rewound
and he is not to be found on the great Pacific
kin who barely knew his face
chose his final space--a hot hole on Oklahoma
prairies, not far from his drunken father
and others who never saw him watch
the sun sink gold into the sea
in my head I'll exhume him,
maybe return him to the waves
that reclaim all things
or introduce him to Christina
a continent away--he could help me know her
though her eyes face another world
I read all the time, but the last week I haven't--I have to read in order to write. Last night I tried to write but had the old block. Today I wrote about what came to mind during that time when nothing would come out. One must be familiar with Andrew's Wyeth's "Christina's World" to get the allusion. The inspiration for his iconic 1948 painting was a Maine woman (with polio we assume). I hope this is a link to the haunting Wyeth image:
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=andrew+wyeths+christina&ei;=UTF-8&hspart;=mozilla&hsimp;=yhs-001
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