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

Francis Bacon Triptych, by Paul Hetherington

1/8/2022

0 Comments

 

​Francis Bacon Triptych


1.
A sweep of pigments, standing near hospital grounds, finding in his body unwieldy gobs of surrealism. In this puzzle of light, buildings fall into recollections of other paintings. Has de Chirico walked here? Windows lean inwards

2.
as an intractable cage of lines. His father’s words were slashes of red. Accompanying Nanny Lightfoot, being horsewhipped by the Captain’s grooms, learning roulette, boyhood’s stretched and sketchy feeling saw him pacing up and down, as in a gallery, watching his lacerations become more and more aesthetic--

3.
as in Poussin’s Massacre or some scene of Crucifixion. Over time the wounds lost their rawness and he stepped back like a connoisseur, staring hard at the morning’s mirror, not recognising his face’s brushed, clean lines. He tipped water over the glass, disappearing in its blur and fall. That’s me, he thought, somewhere fading into absence. Almost unrecognisably, his gaze returned.

​Paul Hetherington

This prose poem was inspired by Francis Bacon and his work, including these pieces:
https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/three-studies-male-back
https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/triptych-0
https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/study-self-portrait-3
https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/crucifixion
​
Paul Hetherington is a distinguished Australian poet. He has published 16 full-length collections of poetry and prose poetry, including 
Her One Hundred and Seven Words (MadHat, 2021), the co-authored epistolary prose poetry sequence, Fugitive Letters (with Cassandra Atherton, Recent Work Press, 2020), and Typewriter and Manuscript (Life Before Man, 2020), along with a verse novel and 12 poetry chapbooks. He has won or been nominated for more than 30 national and international awards and competitions. With Cassandra Atherton, he is co-author of Prose Poetry: An Introduction (Princeton University Press, 2020) and co-editor of Anthology of Australian Prose Poetry (Melbourne University Press, 2020). 
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
    ​

    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