Matthew Woodman
Landscape
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Paisaje, 1921)
Look both ways
before crossing
the public space
may be lit
early morning’s
temporary premise
this haunt will resist
strip mall or sprawl
will (as if from within)
be flesh or at worst
flesh-colored
nostalgia or nausea
the door reads
push not pull
someday signs will
post private property
no trespassing
if you lived here
you could be
home by now
Dancers
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Danzantes, 1942)
To navigate a complex depression
become share allow the audience
a sea
wash over
picked
leave you
clean
polished smoothed but may you ask
of the deeper grieves how to sail
there’s no I’m afraid back coming
from those a body may return even
a mind but strangers them will recognize
wave on the street you
name
will know dates and the steps
not though the singer
the caller behind from over
shoulder synchrony just like were you
Red Mask
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Máscara roja, 1940)
How many in the audience flayed
Marsyas for not having met expectations
who by request what countermelody
challenged hand assumptions carved
as they are as they are as they are
not the song bleeds all art bleeds
before gallery beneath garnish
limited time engagement no one
can touch the one already who has torn
away has in the alcove slipped one skin
about which to wind made of one’s face
a wound cannot that be unheard
Matthew Woodman teaches writing at California State University, Bakersfield and is the poetry editor for Southern Pacific Review. Other ekphrastic poems inspired by Rufino Tamayo's art appear or are forthcoming in Sakura Review, Hawai'i Review, Oxidant/Engine, S/WORD, and Sierra Nevada Review.
More of his writing and a list of past publications can be found at www.matthewwoodman.com.
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Landscape
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Paisaje, 1921)
Look both ways
before crossing
the public space
may be lit
early morning’s
temporary premise
this haunt will resist
strip mall or sprawl
will (as if from within)
be flesh or at worst
flesh-colored
nostalgia or nausea
the door reads
push not pull
someday signs will
post private property
no trespassing
if you lived here
you could be
home by now
Dancers
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Danzantes, 1942)
To navigate a complex depression
become share allow the audience
a sea
wash over
picked
leave you
clean
polished smoothed but may you ask
of the deeper grieves how to sail
there’s no I’m afraid back coming
from those a body may return even
a mind but strangers them will recognize
wave on the street you
name
will know dates and the steps
not though the singer
the caller behind from over
shoulder synchrony just like were you
Red Mask
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Máscara roja, 1940)
How many in the audience flayed
Marsyas for not having met expectations
who by request what countermelody
challenged hand assumptions carved
as they are as they are as they are
not the song bleeds all art bleeds
before gallery beneath garnish
limited time engagement no one
can touch the one already who has torn
away has in the alcove slipped one skin
about which to wind made of one’s face
a wound cannot that be unheard
The Tormented Man
               (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting El atormentado, 1949)
has stripped the screw
what now
juts the frame half disassembled
drill it out with a carbide bit
sweep the metal shavings
the edge
of his hand slivered at the end
when was the last time he punched
a time card
it must be years
the pieces stacked and loaded
he climbs in his cab
calls it
a day
turns on the talk radio
where the disembodied tormented
man castigates strangers he has never
seen
those he knows are decent for
the most part like him
just get through
the next check on the list
try to make
something out of this life
he doesn’t
understand this talk of taking
he gives
time
fastens one life to another
Matthew Woodman teaches writing at California State University, Bakersfield and is the poetry editor for Southern Pacific Review. Other ekphrastic poems inspired by Rufino Tamayo's art appear or are forthcoming in Sakura Review, Hawai'i Review, Oxidant/Engine, S/WORD, and Sierra Nevada Review.
More of his writing and a list of past publications can be found at www.matthewwoodman.com.