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5 Feb 2023
Amaleena
Damlé
Full Moon
The Water-lily’s Eye
After Claude Monet’s
The Japanese Footbridge
(1899 / c.1923-25)
a bridge sweeps across the landscape
from perception to sensation
daubed in washes and hues
the ocular translation of a world
light snatching at colour’s refraction
iridescence of iris to cataract’s crimson
a blurred reflection of blood and bile
in a canvas splattered with vision’s inconstancy
a blurred reflection of blood and bile
iridescence of iris to cataract’s crimson
light snatching at colour’s refraction
the ocular translation of a world
daubed in washes and hues
from perception to sensation
a bridge sweeps across the landscape
Behind the poem...
Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny provided an endless source of fascination for the artist, and featured in many of his paintings. My poem is inspired by two of Monet’s interpretations of The Japanese Footbridge: the first painted in his characteristic hues; the second, a representation of the same setting in a strikingly different palette and style – most likely painted when Monet was suffering from worsening cataracts. In the poem, I respond to the different forms of reflections in these two paintings: from the colour and light so much a part of Monet’s style during his early impressionistic period, to the reflections and refractions of the eye itself as it undergoes its own transformations.