"Here's a poem . . . "

I'm presently snowed under a blizzard of papers, but by way of acknowledging that I know some few of you do drop by to see if I've posted anything at all, much less something worthy of your attention, I'd like to post this short poem from some reading I've assigned my Intro. to Lit. class. Although I like it, I wonder if good ol' Cezanne would think it's a good likeness, as it were. I hope you might like it, too.

I should be back "here" this weekend.


Advice to a Friend Who Paints

Consider shy Cezanne,
the lay of the land he loved,
its dumbstruck vanity polite and brute.
The bather in his sketchy suit.
The skull upon the mute pull of cloth.
In your taxing and tearing, tugging at art,
consider shy Cezanne.
His blushing apples.
His love of man.

--Kelly Cherry