Zero Decibel Poem by gershon hepner

Like throwing garlands across outer space
is writing poetry without a reader;
you build a temple, but can’t find a place
to levitate from Lebanon your cedar.
With no one to interpret what you write,
the words abhor the vacuum where they dwell,
reflecting one where your own fancies’ flight
cannot be heard above a zero decibel.

In an article on the Poussin exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, Rachel Cohen writes in the summer issue of The Threepenny Review:

Erwin Panofsky, in one of the most beautiful observations ever made about Poussin, described his patterns of figures as “garlands thrown across space, ” and in this third stage of looking-perhaps four or five minutes in, now-you can discern the strands. Be patient, you do not have to think about the painting, it may even be good for your mind to wander, but you will have to hold your eyes to their task.

7/28/08