image found at flickr.com
Metallic Minions: Mirrors of Rust
“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works
of art to see your soul.”--George Bernard Shaw.
Rusting hulks can become inert
yard & field art, frozen in place,
but still diverse as those individual spots
on a stone leopard or a ceramic dalmatian;
Buicks, Pintos, VW bugs, harrows, Ford trucks.
construction Cats with broken tracks, bicycles half-swallowed
by ravenous trees, both plagued & proudly sporting
patina-freckles that developed into chronic oxidized
complexion masks, a simply gorgeous metallic psoriasis,
unmoving as monoliths, yet as beauteous as any creation
by a talented sculptor of marble, quartz, or granite figures;
----Art at its essence----
inert, becoming rusting hulks,
frozen in place as yard or field art, but
remaining individual, diverse as those spots
on ceramic dalmatians or stone leopards;
Ford trucks, harrows, VW bugs, Pintos, Buicks,
bicycles half-swallowed, construction Cats with broken tracks,
both proudly sporting & plagued by ravenous trees,
as chronic oxidation becomes patina-freckles,
then gorgeous metallic psoriasis, complexion masks--
yet as beauteous as unmoving monoliths, as complex
as any marble, quartz, or granite figure created by a sculptor.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets MTB
20 comments:
There was an old MG at my aunt's house that I watched rust over the years, and we used to play in before the snakes took it. Art rusts eventually, maybe in the minds of many and perhaps progress is to blame, but there is still beauty there. I love what rust does to metal. Nice use of the form G.
There is a certain kind of beauty in rusting things, I think. We just have to look at these things in a new way. There is definitely a certain complexity in watching things that were once bright and shiny oxidize over time.
My favorite rusty things are fire hydrants. There are a couple of yellow ones near home and one of these days I want to go and paint them. Some folks also make great use of these rusty objects by giving them new life through art.
The feeling of nature taking over.. first with rust and then with lichen moss and grass.. maybe a tree making its way through the floor... yes a magnificent piece of art.
The feeling I get from reading your poem
is deja vu. The reverse poem travels to me back the the past and the the present.
Loving the structure of your creativeness and imagination.
P.S I wrote to you on email. Hope to hear from you soon.
So well done--When I drive from Reno to SoCal down I-395 there are pockets of utter deterioration--vehicles, yes, but also old abandoned buildings that I interpret as symbols of someone's dreams smashed on rocks. These most often are situated in remote or desert-like areas. Someday, I'm going to drive right off the road because I'm so entrapped by their allure. I like this--a feel of the old West.
I have seen those broken down machines & what not in the fields, seemingly forgotten by everyone ~ But by themselves, they are a beauty to behold, rust and all ~
A great way to interpret the prompt, and in listening to your reading of it I quite forgot it was a palindrome; it was the message which got to me, beautifulyl realised.
Nice twist on the form Glenn! One can be more versatile with some little adjustments. It would not be restricted as I had done.Should have thought of it your way! Great!
Hank
Great poem. I know you said in comments the form/poem was obtuse and I truly believe you on this. could you point out the mirror/palindrome form for me, please. I've read this 12 ways to Sunday and don't see it. I like the poem, I like that things are returning to rust, returning to the earth, art becoming totally new in the rusted forms but cannot find the palindrome/mirror aspect. Being dyslexic may have something to do with it. Everyone but me seem to "get it". I would too. smiles.
Never mind Glenn - it just snapped into place! yay! I like this even better now. Interesting take on the prompt. Well done.
Seeing the rustic, rusty machine and car parts as art grabbed me right away. I wish I had saved my grandfather's old step ladder splattered with paint and with rusty nails protruding..indeed it would sell now for quite a bit in the right market...I like the way you mixed it up, played with the form; a little on the wild side and I like how they mask human strenths and weaknesses in real life.
abandoned objects slowly getting sculpted by nature...a unique theme in a twisted palindrome...beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder...wonderfully composed...
WOW, Glenn--this seems like a difficult one to craft, but I'm not surprised you accomplished it. 5-Star!
Have you seen Anthony Gormley's sculpture, the Angel of the North? It was rusty almost from the start, and every time I pass it, towering over the Great North Road, I wonder how long it can last. It'll make an awful mess when it topples!
Your palindrome is very clever.
To see beauty in these "rust buckets" is Art at it's essence, Glenn! Your palindrome is a little clunky, perhaps, but clever! Every farm grove has junk half-swallowed by trees...i like old plows and milk cans.
(:..We.. Rust Art.. God's Beauty.. pyramids.. falling dust
to dust we go.. arise..
disappearing pyramids
dust
pyramids disappearing..
arise.. go we dust to
dust falling.. pyramids.. Beauty God's.. Art Rust.. We..:)
Hi Glenn.. enjoyed your challenging response to the prompt..:)
Truly a work of art.. rust or not..:)
I'm Still working on my.. whatever..;)
Very well done, Flenn. Reading the first poem I learned to appreciate ancient things--people, places, things--as art in their own right. As I continued, I saw the concept of art grow and expand to include more than paintings and poems. Very well done!
Bravo! This made me think og the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX.
Well done.
I could learn a thing or two from this as you reversed phrases with ease. Whenever I see old and beautiful "junk" I always long to pull over and take pictures. This poem was like many snapshots I have missed along the way. I love the line " a simply gorgeous metallic psoriasis".
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