The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Die Zwitschermaschine, by Eric Fretz

1/25/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Twittering Machine, by Paul Klee (Switzerland). 1922.
Die Zwitschermaschine

What can it mean,
This twittering machine
Of birds.
Absurd, 
We could just turn that crank
And hear the gears that squeak, 
Their tweeting, croaking, birdsong beaks
                                (Or mouths?) 
And watch their heads roll round,                                    
Their bodies bobbing up and down,
 A childhood blend of toy and avian.
 
 * * *
                    
But something’s also sinister, are they
There against their will, tied onto the shaft?
Or are they crying ‘cause they lost their way,
Or singing for their supper? Do they laugh?
 
While almost featherless they still have hope.
It’s almost something else the painting shows:
Are they swallowers of swords on tightrope,
The trampoline or safety net below?

See, the collective of birds' noise without words is poetry.
 
 * * *
 
Twenty-Five by nineteen inches, in a  
Mat and wooden frame, and under glass, in a  
Modern Art Museum now, but painted
Three years after Rosa Luxemburg was killed,
A year before Hitler’s Munich putsch--
Then caught and called degenerate and sold,
Hung, now, against the wall, it can not move.   
 
One day, when the window breaks, the birds are heard, and someone turns that crank then all the paintings there will fly away.

Eric Fretz

This poem was written as part of the surprise ekphrastic poetry challenge on birds.

Eric Fretz has been a student of contemporary visual arts since they were modern, and not contemporary, and a long time reader of modern poetry. He is a published author of art criticism and history, but has only recently been persuaded to share his ekphrastic writing exercises. He divides his time between Brooklyn and Beacon, New York, and between art and politics.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead