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Picassoesque, by Chris Mooney-Singh

1/12/2019

12 Comments

 

Picassoesque
 
And so you wake up from a siesta
   in the blue years of that great painter.
You see blue statues, a blue guitar,
   and blue jazz pouring from a decanter.
A blue nude swims in the bedroom shallows.
   Did you remember or create her?
Beyond the unmade sheets and pillows
   the birds in the blue palms make a stir
 
like scats of jazz. They blow you to bliss;
     and you can call this ‘happy hour’.
Hello-goodbye curaçao kiss.
   She turns her back as she turns sour.
The blue skyline is a peeping tom.
   She up and leaves you, elegantly
as night steps in where the blues come from
   between the end of sky and sea.

Chris Mooney-Singh

This poem previously appeared in the Singaporean print anthology, Anima Methodi, Squircle Line Press, November 2018.


Chris Mooney-Singh: "Australian-born, I live and teach poetry in the M.A. programme at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore. My last collections included The Bearded Chameleon (Redwheelbarrow Books, Singapore / Black Pepper Books (Australia) and The Laughing Buddha Cab Company (Red Wheelbarrow Books, Singapore) supported by the National Arts Council. In 2015 I completed a Phd in Creative Writing at Monash University, Melbourne and my verse novel, Foreign Madam and the White Yogi, was commended in the unpublished fiction manuscript category of The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, 2015. My website can be found athttp://chrismooneysingh.com
12 Comments
Jordan Trethewey link
1/12/2019 06:28:45 pm

Great write, Chris. It captures the spirit of the painting perfectly.

Reply
Chris Mooney-Singh link
1/12/2019 06:33:41 pm

Thanks, Jordan. Glad you like it.

Reply
Ken Mizusawa
1/12/2019 07:04:02 pm

A powerful, evocative piece!

Reply
Chris Mooney-Singh link
1/12/2019 07:14:41 pm

Thanks, Ken. Had this one lying around for years and finally it took new life through video.

Reply
Rhoda Neshama Waller
1/12/2019 09:22:13 pm

A wonderful poem, Chris. And I also much enjoy the subtle structure and rhymes, that beautifully reflect the poem's content.

Reply
Chris Mooney-Singh
1/12/2019 09:25:00 pm

Thanks Rhoda. Glad this hit the spot for you. C.

Reply
David McIntosh Wilkie
1/12/2019 09:33:39 pm

The first time I've read Chris's work and I found a depth and connection unlike any other to the subject.
Chris offers an insight that's rare in his craft.
Thoroughly enjoyed, especially the two mediums of the visual and literary. Both compliments each other.

Reply
Chris Mooney-Singh link
1/12/2019 09:38:08 pm

Thanks for your kind thoughts, David.

Reply
Scott Grant
1/13/2019 04:20:14 am

A beautiful interweaving of a series of paintings into a touching narrative, that marries verse and visual work. It is a conversation between poet and painter, uni-directional admittedly as the painter remains silent (though the paintings do "speak" in their own way). Somehow I feel the painter hears the poet, but it is up to each of us to imagine how he reacts.

Love it!

Reply
Chris Mooney-Singh link
1/13/2019 11:03:34 am

Thanks, Scott. The strange thing about the process of writing and video production was that I wrote the poem 'blind' without consciously looking at the paintings, remembering strongly 'Blue Nude' and 'The Man with Guitar', two of my favourites and the most famous. Later, I was surprised seeing images match paintings. The narrative fell into place.

Reply
Jay Panicker
1/13/2019 10:07:19 pm

A thoroughly enjoyable poem, love the word play, rhyme and visual.

Reply
Chris Mooney-Singh link
1/14/2019 03:50:01 am

Thanks, Jay, for your kind thoughts.

Reply

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