World spinning dark in trembled night–
morning returns and still no light
except in fiery landscape, stark.
An emptied people, desperate flight
from history’s repeated arc–
in trembled night, world spinning, dark.
This collage was done for the Kick-About prompt inspired by the work of artist John Stezaker. I took Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, cut it up, and inserted it into works by Monet, Gauguin, Matisse and Homer. This pairing is with one of Monet’s water lilies paintings.
The poem is, like many of the responses to the dverse prompt of the sparrowlet form (introduced to us by Grace), inspired by world events.
And in a bit of serendipity, one of my poems is included in The Ekphrastic Review ebook of responses to Van Gogh’s Starry Night, which you can download here. My thanks to editor Lorette C. Luzajic for her continued support of my work and of Ekphrastic writing.
K. 
I like it, especially what you’ve done with the collage.
Pat
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Thanks Pat. It was an interesting challenge.
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The collage is wonderful and your verse captures the darkness of the situation very well.
Congratulations on publication.
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Thanks. Let’s hope the darkness lifts soon.
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A wonderful opening line and collage.
Congratulations on the publication! I had seen the call for it, but I never got around to writing a poem for it. 😀
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Thanks Merril. I knew there would be a lot of entries, but I can’t resist Van Gogh.
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Beautiful, dark description……very nice
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Thanks Ain. I hope all is well with your friend. Stay safe yourself!
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I like how you combined the different paintings!
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Thanks Jill. It was fun.
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Neat collage and appropriately somber sparrowlet. Congratulations on Ekphrastic Review!
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Thanks Jade. I’ve been getting lots of rejections, so it was a nice little lift.
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You’re welcome and I’m glad you were lifted. I may try the next one they have and see what happens.
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I’ve been getting a lot of rejections lately, but I think there are many more submissions in general everywhere. I read an article about some editors complaining there were too many for them to properly evaluate, urging people to be more selective and not just submit to a hundred places. No worries about that from me–who has the time?
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I don’t keep my finger on the pulse of all that for just the reason you state. No time. If I had a secretary to do the submissions paperwork part it would be ideal, but alas…
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I really like the collage: the contrasting landscapes chime with your words, and the strange state of world affairs at the moment…
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Thanks Ingrid. Everyone is on edge…
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This line hits it: in trembled night, world spinning, dark.
Thank you for joining in. Love your artwork and sparrowlet. Congrats on your published poem.
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Thanks Grace.
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Love the sparrowlet! I like van Gogh’s work – I’ve never considered a collage with famous works… now I’m thinking!
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I’ve done lots of collages on art postcards, but never anything like this. But anything that plays with images is a good exercise for me.
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I’m happy to hear of the publication—something cheering in all the grim right now. This is a powerful pair. I love how the Van Gogh appears like an inescapable monolith in the midst of the Monet.
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Thanks Sun. It was good news on a bad news day for sure.
Both artists worked with light, but with very different approaches. Each luminous in their own way.
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You have managed to take a grim, stunning and horrific event and use words to make it personal, vivid and meaningful. On such a topic it’s hard to say “beautiful,” yet beauty can be used to show truth, and you do.
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Thanks. It seems all that we can do right now.
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I feel so sad, and for once I think the only way to do is to fight with arms against the night
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I agree. There is no possibility of compromise.
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Genuinely stunning art, Kerfe – I am wow’d by this piece.
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