In And Out Of The Paintings Poem by Sheena Blackhall

In Paulo Uccello's. painting, St George and the Dragon
Why is the lady indifferent to the dragon impaled by a lance?
An endangered species, surely it merits compassion?

The ploughman inFall of Icarus, by Bruegel the Elder
Ignores the drowning, silly, rebellious boy
As the public shrugs its shoulders when dare-devils die

Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring,
What little problems lie behind that look?
Is she worried about health, pay, bills that are overdue?

I'd like TheSleeping Gypsy to wake and play,
Rousseau's desert musician…reminding us
That music quietens even the savage breast

Starry Night, Van Gogh, how your stars excite me
Dead stars, but still as brilliant in the sky
As you, still spreading beauty from the grave

On the subject of marriage, Van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding
Shows us the trophy wife enceinte
She is carrying his issue, his heir, his hoped for dynasty

Have you ever stood on a bridge and considered leaving?
Munch's Scream is for those when the guy lines creak
When you walk a tightrope wire with slipping feet

Grant Wood's American Gothic echoes the late John Knox
Sour, implacable, never cracking a smile
With the Devil's trident ready to prod you to Hades

Paintings suck us into a fantasy world
Not fence-sitting they chime with outer realties
Of wars, myths nameable happenings, domestic life

Meditate on Caspar David Friedrich's Stages of Life
Or Bosch's Eerie Garden of Earthly Delights
Unsettling, they remind us ofmoments to come
Or raise us into the regions mystics explore