Picture Books Poem by gershon hepner

He said some books have pictures and
some pictures books. All poems must
be illustrated not by hand,
but by ideas that shake the dust
in attics of the mind and draw
with words, not crayons, lines
that trace imaginary awe
which skepticism undermines.

R. B. Kitaj, born Ronald Brooks in Cleveland on Oct.29,1932, he was 2 when his father abandoned the family and adopted by his step-father, a research chemist from Vienna, Dr. Walter Kitaj, died in LA on October 21,2007, possibly as a suicide. Jon Thurber writes an obituary IN THE la Times on October 25,2007:

In the early 1960s, Kitaj began a collaboration with Cris Prater, a London silk-screen printer that resulted in the publication in 1970 of several portfolios of prints. The 50 silk-screen prints of that series reproduce covers of real and imagined books. The series reflected Kitaj's love of literature. He later observed, 'Some books have pictures, and some pictures have books.'

A pastel and Charcoal drawing of his inspired my poem “God’s Back” which I wrote in 7/3/01 and cite below. Peter Goulds, the owner of the LA Louvre Gallery, sent it to Kitaj, who wrote me a brief letter of appreciation:


GOD’S BACK



Of God the only part that we can paint,
because we truly lack
the vision of a prophet or a saint,
is bareness of his back.

Of man the part we mostly choose to paint
is usually the face,
which God like nakedness conceals, his law
concealing empty space.



10/24/07