Studio in the Asylum, by Steve Deutsch

Window of Vincent's Studio at the Asylum, by Vincent Van Gogh (Netherlands), 1889.

Studio in the Asylum

Dear Theo:
​
I am surrounded here
by the painter’s commonplace,
the half- filled canvases
that dot the ochre walls and
those ornaments of still-lifes--
the vases and jars standing
to attention on the sill,
empty of colour and purpose.
I feel a tension, as if
a single dazzling orange 
would shatter the calm
forever.

I have finished “Studio in the Asylum.”
It is a soothing depiction,
like a setting for a prayer.
Yet, I might well have named the piece
“The window in the wall”--
that brightness that separates
the therapeutic room
from the glory of the garden
and the grounds.
Soon, now
I shall make my way outside.
to paint the olive landscapes
and pasteled huts 
and to colour
the stars of the night sky.

Yours: Vincent

Steve Deutsch

Steve Deutsch, a semi-retired practitioner of the fluid mechanics of mechanical hearts and heart valves, lives with his wife Karen--a visual artist, in State College, PA.  Steve writes poetry, short fiction and the blog: stevieslaw@wordpress.com.  His most recent publications have been in Eclectica Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, New Verse News, Silver Birch Press, Misfit Magazine and One-sentence poems. As an adult, Steve had the good fortune to sit in on two poetry classes taught by first class poets and teachers.  He has been writing poetry ever since.