deepundergroundpoetry.com
A Painted World
If I could live a painted life
inside a painted world...
I would climb inside the cage
to which the griffins are leashed
and torture them with meat on sticks,
until they flew me to that place
where perspective melts away,
symptomatic as it is of that old sadist,
Realism. There, Alexander stands
in a bowl made of valleys,
almost as tall as a castle,
his crown scraping the stars.
Once upon a time he flew here, too,
precisely as I did.
The griffins he used are now kings
of their realm in the east.
inside a painted world...
I would climb inside the cage
to which the griffins are leashed
and torture them with meat on sticks,
until they flew me to that place
where perspective melts away,
symptomatic as it is of that old sadist,
Realism. There, Alexander stands
in a bowl made of valleys,
almost as tall as a castle,
his crown scraping the stars.
Once upon a time he flew here, too,
precisely as I did.
The griffins he used are now kings
of their realm in the east.
Published 18th Jan 2017
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18th Jan 2017 10:58am
Picture taken from chapter 63* of Historia de proelis**, a French translation of a Latin text from 1420. The book is an Alexander romance, meaning a collection of legends pertaining to Alexander the Great.
*http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=1781
**http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=6533
*http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=1781
**http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=6533
18th Jan 2017 3:10pm
What a mythological tale you've told us, Jack. It contains all the elements of both a fairy tale contrasted with the dark elements contained in each. For example, there's always a dark part of a fairy tale, i.e. - the haunted forest, etc. This flew in such brevity through the chaptered realms to the open ending left for an imagination to fill in.
I loved the deviation from perspective and reality to
There, Alexander stands
in a bowl made of valleys,
almost as tall as a castle,
his crown scraping the stars.
These were gripping couplets befitting Alexander. The whole verse was a delight to read.
I loved the deviation from perspective and reality to
There, Alexander stands
in a bowl made of valleys,
almost as tall as a castle,
his crown scraping the stars.
These were gripping couplets befitting Alexander. The whole verse was a delight to read.
20th Jan 2017 10:25am
It reads as if you've painted the artwork right onto the page,
An intriguing tale...
An intriguing tale...
