Bottle

 

[Bottle]

 

“Guidelines when Painting“

 

Pierre Bonnard, detail of ‘Dining room at Le Cannet’ (1932)

 

Remind them of the shape of bottle

lip and neck and base and not too subtle

how it fills the space not too little.

 

Erect the form using line. incorrect colour

the time it takes to fill with water

or something sweeter or tipsier, richer.

 

Suggest body with blue patch of window,

crimson curl reflection, distant dayglow

inside glass silver liquid, go with the flow.

 

Demonstrate, using cubist traction

impressionist smudge, baroque affection,

its air of indefinite abstraction.

 

Imagine the genie who got us all here

all the questions so far yet so near.

all’s as it appears, yet changed it’s clear.

 

Write the message bottled for their word game

who still have to find out how futile is fame;

only love, work, rest, signed with your name.

 

Imply that all objects have such mystery,

the contents take effect in all their variety;

the poet said it, the world’s incorrigible plurality.

 

Describe its glassiness as simply the start

of iconic afternoon its edges prefiguring dark.

there are years wherein to appreciate the art.

 

Leave it to breathe where you saw it last

to the gaze of aging friends sharing the past

and the young who find the whole thing a blast.