Above is a fragment of a Buddhist sculpture, which I post thinking of one of my favorite poems in the world, also about the fragment of a sculpture (but a Greek one.) That poem is Rainer Maria Rilke’s Archaic Torso of Apollo (translated by Stephen Mitchell). In the poem, Rilke describes how the remains of the statue embodiy all the bits that are missing--the head, the eyes, the curls, the stare. The last line of the poem - “you must change your life” - somehow encapsulates the integrity of the broken statue; and to me, urges change both because of the example of some high standard of classical beauty, but also because of a realization of the ephemeral quality of time. (PS - I don’t mean to oversimplify the poem here, as honestly, I think it says a whole bunch of things.)
Whenever one visits a museum, and especially if one is interested in art of other times, one sees many pieces that are the remains of themselves--fragments of sculptures or vases or mosaics. This word “remains” has many connotations in English--the remains of a sculpture, the remains of a person, the remains of the day, the remains of a relationship, even just the remains of a meal (as in, leftovers!)
I ask you on this 16th day of this crazy month of April to write something that stems from this word--remains, remaining, remainder-- and I post pictures of sculptures I have taken or pieces that seem to me to be remains of some kind. (Feel free to do an ekphrastic poem and certainly to use your own pictures.)
PLEASE view this prompt as widely as possible. You do not have to use the word "remain" or "remains" in your poem. You can write directly of something related to remains (or one of these pics). But I am perfectly happy if you write about gas mains! Just use the prompt and a picture (if you like) as something to jump off of.
And have a good time! Visit your friends too, if you want to remain friends! (Please note that I will be traveling today and attending a sad family event so may be delayed in commenting.)
Also, I'm sorry not to identify the pics better--they were all taken by me, some at the Met Museum, and I don't have very good notes of them. (If there's one you particularly like, I'll try to figure it out.) Some, of course, were not taken at the Museum. One is from the 9/11 Memorial in downtown NYC,
Also, I'm sorry not to identify the pics better--they were all taken by me, some at the Met Museum, and I don't have very good notes of them. (If there's one you particularly like, I'll try to figure it out.) Some, of course, were not taken at the Museum. One is from the 9/11 Memorial in downtown NYC,
Finally, thanks to Kerry for arranging this crazy month, and for all the support of those participating and not!
