Ode to Picasso’s Ageless Embrace, by Joe Lamport

Étreinte by Pablo Picasso (Spain) 1972.

Ode to Picasso’s Ageless Embrace

One fine
Chelsea morning
In May
Trekking along
The sunny side
We encountered
Yellow blossoms

Westerly we progressed
Placing a wisp or two
In the air
Behind the Christ Church
Drawn towards
A vision of
Late in life truth

I asked – do you remember –
Walking into
Gagosian first --
Standing in front of the
Blue black winged starling –
I asked if you could solve the riddle
Of the inner-most sanctum

And then we stumbled
And found ourselves
Before Theban gates
Reading a text
Chromatic
Of dream texture and
Pointing generally towards

Two spirits of single flesh
Oedipus and the Sphinx combined
In chalky Mediterranean light
A unifying vision of
The bicameral mind
Seen through the lenses
Of a compound eye

Cubism
To higher power
Brought
Beyond the
Limits of mere frame
Each image composed
Of constituent parts
Yet selves themselves
Wrought by
Greater devising
Onto another plane

So pictures form clusters
And clusters form vines
And in this way
The world in its entirety
Climbs and entwines
In the mind
Of the aging Master

Arthritic in his studio
but unsubdued
By spirit of sparagamos
deeply infused
While obsessively retracing
the steps of
Les pas a deux
Of contrasting pairs

Like Maestro
Emerging from
Behind the easel
Only to find Monstro
Standing proud
Upon the stairs

And in the Gallery last
Suggestive of
Valedictory task
The Iberian Adam
And his loose limbed madam
Disport in utter abandon
Grappling without repose

Let peace everlasting
Be good and be damned
For genius notwithstanding
There's not a moment to lose
For losing oneself
In heedless embrace
Thus reaching a place
Beyond understanding

Where we may discover
The imperishable truth
Of you residing in me
While uncovering as no less true
Me deep inside of you

Joe Lamport

Joe Lamport is a poet and translator of classical Chinese poetry.  You can read more of his work on his blog at http://lampoetry.blogspot.com and at http://tangspirit.net. He is the author of four books including his most recent collection of poems called Sutra for a Creek.