Landscape at Collioure, by Barbara Crooker

Landscape at Collioure, by Henri Matisse (France), 1905.

LANDSCAPE AT COLLIOURE, 1905

"From the moment I held the box of colours in my hands
I knew this was my life.  I threw myself into it like
a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves."
Henri Matisse


This hillside's the shade of grape soda,
lawn an ooze of electric jaundice,
and the sky's a violet slither.  The red, 
blue, and green trees are dancing, supple 
and sinuous, and the leaves are singing, a riot
of light.  He squeezed out red-orange like plastic 
explosives.  Painting is an act of belief.

Barbara Crooker

This poem first appeared in Barbara's book, Les Fauves, C&R Press, 2017.

The last line is taken from the artist's own words.
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Barbara Crooker is the author of eight books of poetry, including Les Fauves (C&R Press, 2017) and The Book of Kells (Poeima Poetry Series, Cascade Books, 2019). Her work has appeared in The Bedford Introduction to Literature, Ted Kooser's "American Life in Poetry," and on The Writer’s Almanac.  www.barbaracrooker.com