A Way or Course

Roads that go straight somewhere and roads that go nowhere. Grey haired spinsters who drink hot water in Florence, Italy, and young ladies who study the Old Masters. Vague females in the background, bold females at the forefront; dusty and tousled, maybe wearing spectacles, or daring and beautiful. Roads of inspiration; roads of occupation. Roads that are less Victorian, or Edwardian, and more bohemian, though still leading mostly to marriage and children, and perhaps lovers. Roads that went somewhere, then went nowhere, nowhere in particular; straight roads whose end is met with suddenly, stopped short.

Picture credit: The Tuscan Road, 1899, Amedeo Modigliani

Written March 2022.

Ruins

A stone city made by nature, by erosion; “ruined architecture” fooling human eyes into believing this mirage, this illusion, and attempting always to cut a path to it. Ancient ruins made of natural materials; ancient ruins consumed by jungle; ancient civilisations simply disappear. And yet if the right god-selected agent looks he will see shards of pottery, moat-like ditches, evidence of bridges and causeways. Connecting to what? Leading to where? Other ancient (and lost) cities, probably.

Picture credit: Among the Ruins, 1904, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (source: WikiArt)

See The Lost City of Z by David Grann.

Written March 2022.

Picasso by Stein

Picasso as creator: fills and empties himself; fills and empties himself – of Spain, of France, of Italy; refills himself so quickly, he must recommence emptying himself of his different periods: blue, rose or harlequin, African, Cubism, still-lifes. Realistic, Naturalist, and Classic. Cubes, no cubes, and simply things. Large women and women with draperies. Period of rest – nothing to empty. That is his way. Picasso by Stein.

See Picasso by Gertrude Stein.

Written March 2022.

Picture credit: Portrait of Gertrude Stein, 1905-6, Pablo Picasso, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (source: Wikipedia).