A talented friend of ours recently changed his profile picture on Facebook to show a painting he did way back. Bob Boldt shared “Passion,” created in 1958, and the eyes captured me. I imagine the double reflections he portrays in the pupils showing a broken sun/son as he was executed for the crimes of mankind. A little late for Easter, but thought I would share (with Bob’s permission, of course) the painting and the poem it inspired.
The eyes,
still searching the heavens
for intervention,
still bleeding tears
for the woman who bore him,
the one keeping watch,
bearing his pangs
and the nails
as if they were her own.
The mind,
draining of life,
pouring over the sins against him,
the hatred borne with his thorns,
the king and his crown
brought low and raised up
as a message to the others,
that there is
no life to this movement.
The body,
weary and nodding,
fighting one more moment,
with one last breath,
calling toward the clouds
to forgive their blunder,
to silence the thunder
as it pounds inside
from a heart running dry,
from death knocking
and his soul responding
finally with silence.
| Copyright © 2021 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there. |
I love it that Bob's work inspired you; I too was taken by this painting but could not effectively describe the way it made me feel. I liked how the viewer's eye is drawn ar,nd the image, as all good visual art does, the motion created in the mind of the observer. To bring such and iconic image to life, in both painting and poetry, is no small feat; the subject having been, of course, done to death in our culture. Kudos to both of you for new illumination of an old, old subject!
ReplyDeleteFYI Bob has a vast collection of truly inspiring art right here on the blog, so much I've never been able to see it all, for those with an interest don't miss it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Roger! I will be sure to check out Bob’s further artistic expressions!
ReplyDeleteI’m reading this again minutes after reading Michael H. Brownstein’s “Daylight,” and a week or so after publishing my parable of reversal, “The Crucifixions”; did Bob Boldt have Jesus Christ in mind, I wonder?
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