Monday, October 17, 2016

Susan Hawthorne #290 Beyond Caravaggio


it's what they say in their titles
but they always forget the meaning
of beyond

to go beyond is not only to follow
or add just a little here and there
to go beyond

is to go further not just in time
but in intent scale and originality
the beyond

I thought we would see was
the beyond of Artemisia Gentilleschi
a beyond

that broke even more rules than
Caravaggio imagine a woman going
so beyond

as to paint her trials of reputational
and physical abuse and rape
to go beyond

men's truths her painting Suzanne
and the Elders is about disbelief
beyond

the rules of patriarchal lies her trial
not even mentioned in the captions
and beyond

the silence of Gentilleschi's work are
the paintings not included in the show
beyond

polite conversation in which Judith
cuts off the head of Holofernes way
beyond

what any woman should imagine even
after years of social death and centuries
of erasure


6 comments:

  1. So marvelous, Sue. Powerful the narratives of gender, the other one hidden for awhile, which then goes sharp and clear for the understanding!

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    1. P.S. Time on my hands, I spent a big part of my day (yesterday) contemplating how art will incline to bring truth to the ordinary darkness, the one that is inclined to ignore other sides of reality. Yours here is a fine example of doing that. Again, quite marvelous...

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    2. Thanks Rob. I really appreciate your response. I was incredibly disappointed with the exhibition as I'd seen an article that suggested that she was a major part of the show. The great value of these daily poems is having a way to express this and in a way you wouldn't usually do. You would just vent and bluster!

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  2. I know those paintings and such a sharp poem thank you so much.

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  3. Yes, they are brilliant. Thanks Kerri.

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