Five After Johannes Vermeer, by Dennis Maloney

Woman Holding a Balance, by Johannes Vermeer (Netherlands) 1664

Woman Holding a Balance
 
Her face serene and her untroubled  concentration
draws our gaze, as our eyes dart over 
the string of pearls and the gold chains 
slung carelessly over the edge of her jewelry case.
 
A painting of the last judgement 
hangs on the wall behind her
suggesting there are lives in the balance. 
 
As if they were placed on a scale,
here the object, here the colour,
never more, never less
than is needed for a perfect balance.
 
It might be a lot or a little but
that depends as always on
the exact equivalent of the object.
But the dishes are empty,
she seems to weigh air
she is expectant, but of what?
 
The tiny scales are empty. 
Is the woman weighing souls? 
Or merely the light glinting 
off the metal balance?

Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer (Netherlands) 1665

​The Girl with a Pearl Earring
 
All the hundreds and thousands of reproduction 
don’t do justice to your luminous presence,
Vermeer’s idealized woman dressed in 
vaguely Asian or exotic garb.
 
There is a softness in your face,
your eyes looking straight out at us, 
as if into the eyes of a lover, with
a wordless and bottomless desire. 
The glimmers of light on your moist red lips
poised, open, about to speak with that enigmatic expression.
You are seductive, baffling, and ambiguous,
at that delicate point between girl and womanhood.
 
An improbably large pearl in your ear,
likely a glass teardrop, reflects your collar, turban, 
the panes of the window across the room.
You remain mystery but each of us makes 
a connection when we meet your eyes.
How often do we experience such intimacy in a lifetime?

The Astronomer, by Johannes Vermeer (Netherlands) 1668

​The Astronomer
 
He travels the earth and heavens 
without leaving his room, 
while in his library he is surrounded 
by prophets and philosophers, 
but ultimately he is alone
pursuing knowledge of science 
intertwined with the desire 
to comprehend the nature of the divine. 
The distinction between astronomy 
and astrology being a slippery one.
The incoming light focuses on him
and the celestial globe, his fingers spread wide, 
he adjusts the globe creating an aura of mystery 
in harmony with the study of the cosmos.

The Geographer, by Johannes Vermeer (Netherlands) 1668

The Geographer
 
The calm geographer seems a world away,
his gaze drifting off into the distance.
A room cluttered with objects that gesture 
to a broader world: maps, rolled up vellum sea charts, 
a chart of the coasts of Europe on the wall,
the globe turned to the Indian Ocean.
 
The light falls on his papers and forehead,
the outside world drawn into the seclusion 
of his study as he explored the world beyond Delft.
The Dutch oversea empire was then 
at its full extent, with cargos of spices, 
silks, teas, coffee, and teak constantly 
arriving from distant colonies and trading posts.
 
What interests him is the information merchants bring back. 
Information he collected, analyzed, and synthesized 
into sea charts and maps that merchants took back 
into a wider world now better understood. 
 ​

A Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid, by Johannes Vermeer (Netherlands) 1670

​A Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid
 
Again the maid and mistress 
but no exchange between them.
The mistress is absorbed in writing 
a letter, the maid lost in thought, 
arms clasped in front of her,
looking at something out the window. 
 
Writing a letter takes time. 
The light muted by the translucent 
linen curtain over the window.
 
In the foreground on the floor 
a crumpled letter, stick
of sealing wax, and a detached seal.
 
Has she has just received a letter,
opened it and thrown it on the floor
and drafts an emotional response?

​Dennis Maloney 
​
Dennis Maloney is a poet and translator. A number of volumes of his own poetry have been published including: The Map Is Not the Territory,  Just Enough, Listening to Tao Yuan Ming, The Things I Notice Now, The Faces of Guan Yin and Windows. A bilingual German/English volume, Empty Cup was published in Germany in 2017. Clearing the Stream: New & Selected Poems will appear in 2025 from Walton Well Press.