One Viewer’s Response to Antoni Tapies’ Blue with Four Red Bars, by Bill Waters

Blue With Four Red Bars, by Antoni Tapies (b. Spain), 1966.

One Viewer’s Response to Antoni Tapies’ Blue with Four Red Bars

A blue man walks into
four red bars (sequentially,
 
of course; not all at once).
“I’m blue,” he says. “Melancholy,
 
morose. What should I do? And
why are all the bars in this town red?”
 
“Drink this,” each barkeep would say.
“The bars have been red for a decade.
 
Where are you from, anyway?”
And so the night goes: a blue man
 
stumbling from red bar to red bar
till rosy-fingered dawn strikes fire
 
from the wine-dark sea.
Penelope!
 
The wanderer sets his course
for home.

Bill Waters
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This poem was written as part of the 20 Poem Challenge.
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Known primarily for his Japanese-style micropoetry, Bill Waters also writes ekphrastic poetry, found verse, book spine poetry, and all manner of short prose. He lives in Pennington, New Jersey, U.S.A., with his wonderful wife and their two amazing cats.