it's black on black hanging swirling slowly balanced delicately a mathematical suspension of wire & metal hand made world twisted & curled it's a reminder maybe to know that we spin & live surrounded by nothing that movement is slight & shape is subtle to seek out light & motion to look up
middleagedmiddlechild. 
12 responses to “after calder.”
“it’s a reminder
maybe to know
that we spin
& live
surrounded by
nothing”
Nicely put.
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Joel, gorgeous poem. The image is perfect, and I see echos of Yeats but in a positive way. “we spin / & live,” these words are perfect order from n the midst of our random world.
Good to see you here!
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Aw, thanks, friend!
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There’s so much beauty in your poem! One thing I’m particularly struck by is your choice of where to end stanzas and start the new ones–I love how some of the stanzas end with the end of a thought, giving readers time to pause and digest the thought, while other stanzas end in the middle of a thought and push readers to hurry to the next stanza. That’s not something I tend to do in my poetry and it makes me want to try it out. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Appreciate you, friend! I’m getting better at playing with enjambment & freeing up the punctuation. I’ve got to admit it’s pretty intuitive : )
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Welcome to the world of slicing!
What a poem!
My favorite phrase
“that movement
is slight & shape
is subtle”
“Less is more”
The images inspired by your poem are so striking!
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It’s a sign that the list line is “to look up” because that’s what I had to do: look up Calder and find out about this sculptor whose work looks familiar but who would have likely remained unknown to me if not for your poetic nudge. “mathematical suspension” catches my eye and my imagination and helps me find my way in this poem, almost float through it. Thank you, my friend. Whether you intend to or not, you are teaching.
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I took a ton of art history as an undergrad, which came in handy when I moved near Houston’s Menil Collection, which has a TON of Calder. I love a work of art that isn’t static!
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Beautiful poem. My favorite lines:
of wire & metal
hand made world
twisted & curled
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Goodness I even loved reading the comments, here. I love that you wrote a poem. I love that you included an image. The stanza ‘it’s a reminder / maybe/ to know we spin” is my favorite, because it gives me that sense of suspension and process, that ever-evolving attitude about life. I am so glad you’re Slicing this year, Joel. Thank you for this moment of calm in my day.
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Aw thanks! Yeah poetry today & yesterday, prose tomorrow 😬
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So much love for the flow and feeling of this. I read it twice just to savour. Thank you!
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