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

The Bedroom at Arles (1888), by Matthew M. Cariello

11/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Bedroom at Arles, by Vincent Van Gogh (Netherlands) 1888.

The Bedroom at Arles (1888)

the pain inside feels like sadness
I told Mrs. Hall & she sent me 
to the nurse Mrs. Jennings who said
I could lie on the grey vinyl couch
until it passed I was learning 
to read that year & learning too 
how to avoid the daily labours of noun
& verb grammar sentence syntax 
hourly drills of getting it right the
couch faced the wall where hung 
on the left an eye chart with 
its sad hieroglyphs of failure but 
on the right was another room's 
secret portrait askew all yellows & reds
& blues two windows two pillows  
two chairs the careening floor
& staggering door a counter image 
of the school's ordered brick
and parallel lines to lunch I 
was thinking sixth grader
because the perspective was close
but not perfect it was almost right
almost a room I could live in back 
in class they were perfecting
the period the comma the capital
letter I was turning on the verge
of another sentence slipping 
on the vertiginous floor of the room
in the wall where I had never gone 
it was telling me a story getting 
it right wasn't the point I would lie                                                                                        
there long minutes listening 
to my insides turn & surge not 
getting any better & not wishing to

Matthew M. Cariello


Matthew M. Cariello's poetry, A Boat That Can Carry Two (2011) and Talk (2019) were both published by Bordighera Press. His stories, poems and reviews have been published in Voices in Italian Americana, Poet Lore, Ovunque Siamo, Evening Street Review, Modern Haiku, The Long Story, Indiana Review, Iron Horse Review, and The Journal. He is currently a senior lecturer in the English department at OSU in Columbus.
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