Vermeer

A great way to find inspiration or to help others learn how to write poetry is to write a poem based on another work of art. My training included a hefty amount of poetry writing on the classic works of art across the last 400 years.

The next poem put that training into practice. I wrote a poem based on Salvador Dali's painting "The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As A Table." More information about Salvador Dali can be found here http://thedali.org/history/biography.html. Information about the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer can be found here http://www.essentialvermeer.com/.

Vermeer



I was there in Delft where Vermeer returned

to make an Orange sunset.

I saw Vermeer's shadow suggest Shakespeare

less than a prone inprint of Death

settled in brick dust with Vermeer's crutch

angled and stiff risen from Death's crotch.

See how Vermeer sees me?

His left arm a ginger arrow in my direction.

I'm that black shadow of a mountain

ready to send down thunder,

ready to send his knickers back to New Kirk.

I'll give his crutch to the trees,

lay his table out for the meadows.

Keep the wine to plug my crevices,

mask my scars.