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

Red in Six Sections, by Nolan Meditz

2/14/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Vir Heroicus Sublimis, by Barnett Newman (USA). 1950-51.

Red in Six Sections

        
I
The simplest observation is this:
there is little sublimity in division,
but proximity facilitates immersion.
It is not the image we will leave
this world or its future inhabitants.
History does not rummage
through the glories, only ruins remain.

II
Standing before you is the shade of my transgressions.
Of depth and enormity and fracture
of subtleties in monochrome.
Plasticity, verisimilitude, invention
by right ought to fade
a presence with no context save the making.
I will never admit to expansion.

III
It’s never as easy as field and figure
when the plane itself—though not
the object—aggresses. Sublimity
is our mother tongue, our source
of fundamental recollection—countless
brushstrokes publish wonder, negate
by accumulation. There you are again,
on the other side of a red field
that denies direction. I refuse
to diminish our separation.
I refuse to bring these barriers down.

IV
The simplest observation is this:
there is nothing to read
and any stride toward the heroic
sublime necessarily begins a blemish
on an otherwise pristine canvas.
What would have been had we
left this world unaffected.

V
What is the point
of a monument that outlives
its observers? Why not leave
a footprint in sand?

VI
The bridge exceeds the span
of land it calls its destination.

Nolan Meditz

​Nolan Meditz was born and raised on Long Island. He received his MFA from Hofstra University in 2014 and his Ph.D. from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2018. His poetry has appeared in Roanoke Review, Califragile, deLuge Journal, and Mockingheart Review among other publications. He currently lives in Weatherford, OK, where he teaches writing at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
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
    ​

    March 2023
    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