They say we should imagine Penelope happy.
Do not be deceived:
her waiting is not the expression of love,
nor of her faithfulness
nor does her waiting represent
any such nameable feeling,
the warmth of a young body
or the steadiness of a soul.
Her suitors don't know it,
nor does her boy with rosy lids,
her sailor lost in the arms
of a more beautiful song -
none of them know.
Her hair spins the shroud,
the sea and the land
breathing on the ribs of war,
her gaze weaves the garden,
the burial of petals,
the shadowy leaves on a wall,
the footsteps of impatient sandals
on her hidden hips,
the lover himself,
with his proud
and lonely bow.
They say we should imagine Penelope happy.
Do not be deceived:
Her waiting is birth at dawn,
her waiting is murder at night
yet in the centre of this waiting,
like a black spider without a face,
she sits and stares
into her own myth.
Do not be deceived:
her waiting is not the expression of love,
nor of her faithfulness
nor does her waiting represent
any such nameable feeling,
the warmth of a young body
or the steadiness of a soul.
Her suitors don't know it,
nor does her boy with rosy lids,
her sailor lost in the arms
of a more beautiful song -
none of them know.
Her hair spins the shroud,
the sea and the land
breathing on the ribs of war,
her gaze weaves the garden,
the burial of petals,
the shadowy leaves on a wall,
the footsteps of impatient sandals
on her hidden hips,
the lover himself,
with his proud
and lonely bow.
They say we should imagine Penelope happy.
Do not be deceived:
Her waiting is birth at dawn,
her waiting is murder at night
yet in the centre of this waiting,
like a black spider without a face,
she sits and stares
into her own myth.
first one is good, last one is good concept but imperfect realisation, rest are questionable ;)
ReplyDelete(soon she will regret asking about my opinion) ;)
oh no, she can regret many things, but not aksing someone what he/she really thinks about something :-) sometimes the trouble is to find ways to get that out of them, though i think i am quite good at that :-)
ReplyDelete"questionable" is high praise in my eyes :-), i prefer doubts and challenge to clear-cut perfection.
roxana, I thought third one is yours.. Fingers and.. :p I love the dark misty burgandy.. quite unique tone of yourself.. actually it reminds me of Sherlock Holmes under the night fog in London.. how stupid frankness I have!! How can I associate such a charming tone of color to the gloomy dectective.. can't I ?! Just curse me.. :p
ReplyDeletenice, i like the penelope story. and i very much agree re questionable!
ReplyDeleteno doubt a very effective method
ReplyDeletehow about a clear-cut imperfection?
i love the atmosphere of this post
ReplyDeletete imbratisez
m
Ce frumoase sunt prima si ultima, sunt asa misterioase!!...si cromatica e superba...ca de obicei:)
ReplyDeletewell, actually Peter, they say the more unexpected the association, the more creative the mind - and i'd have never thought of Holmes in this case, for sure :-) but i think i understand why, there is a lot of mystery in the images, or so i see it - even if the gloomy detective was quite immune to the charm of such dreamy young ladies :-) the one who would have fallen for them would have been Arsene Lupin, if you know him - the charming French villain :-)
ReplyDeleteswiss, i was a bit nervous waiting for your reaction re Penelope, as i know how much you are into mythological re-writing yourself :-) now i am relieved :-)
ReplyDeletehmm, Eneles - i think a clear-cut imperfection can in some cases mark the birth of a masterpiece - but one needs something more than just 'talent' to achieve that, perhaps grace - much easier to achieve 'clear-cut perfection' :-)
ReplyDeleteyou should know better.
Manu, thank you for telling me this :-)
ReplyDeletesi eu, mult de tot!
Edith, multumesc :-) cromatica s-a nascut dintr-o greseala, a propos de imperfectiuni, nu aveam la mine decat film de 800 si era un soare demential afara, asa ca toate culorile au iesit aiurea si am fost nevoita sa le transform in asta :-)
ReplyDeleteoh roxana.. how smart the counter-blow!..!.. I just knocked down on the floor.. bleeding.. :-p .. lovely.. my.s..t..e...ry... la..d...y...
ReplyDeleteinteresanta abordare,se poate crea o ARTA din greseala....am patit-o si eu
ReplyDeleteI love the first photo for the balance of its composition and for something mysterious about it, as if it is set before the entrance to an ancient shrine --- and the third, hands cradling petals, graceful hands in the act of apprehending what remains, even now.
ReplyDeleteThe poem, too, an intrigue, a weaving, so fundamental to everything here --- the essential that can only be approached by saying what it is not, this pure in-betweeness that opens at last into its own myth....
So hard to choose between the second and third photos!Each has its own appeal (and don't ask me what that is!)
ReplyDeleteTake care,
b.
Molto belle sono le tue fotografie Ciao Roxane un caro saluto
ReplyDeleteMaurizio
Très délectant pour mon imagination cela me fait du bien aujourd’hui de lire les photos cette couleur mauve de beauté toujours ce travail admirable Roxana merci pour mes yeux. .
ReplyDeletePeter, don't tell me it is so easy to knock you down on the floor :-P
ReplyDeletemultumesc, Carol, pentru vizita. da, asa este :-)
ReplyDeleteJames, you know, i was not sure about those pictures, but if there was something about them that convinced me to post, was the sense of mystery... and perhaps of being lost in something atemporal. hence my idea of the myth.
ReplyDeleteyou are so sensitive, as always, to the way i try to weave images and (my) words - and this is so beautiful:
"the essential that can only be approached by saying what it is not, this pure in-betweeness that opens at last into its own myth"
i could just give up my 'poem' there and replace it with this :-)
billoo, now you've made me curious: i don't see anything that could appeal to you in those pictures, there are certainly no food innuendos :-) unless you belong to the tribe of the Rose Petal Eaters? in this case you might find this recipe useful:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ehow.com/how_2297120_eat-rose-petals.html
but don't you dare do that before my eyes! :-)
Maurizio! grazie...
ReplyDeletealways a pleasure to hear from you...
Allan, je suis plus qu'enchantee de savoir que je peux prendre soin de tes yeux a l'aide de mes photos :-)
ReplyDeletec'est important pour moi quand tu me dis que tu aimes ce que je fais, et pourquoi - aussi parce que ton approche photographique est si differente de la mienne! moi, je ne suis pas si douee pour la photo 'documentaire'...
Well, you wouldn't! Naturally[ lol :-) ]
ReplyDeleteNo food innuendos? Oh, I don't know. Food for thought.
Mysterious and haunting, like other images and words I'm slowly discovering here in your pages... a pleasure...
ReplyDeletenow I am dead.. I feel I am totally naked and stand in front of you.. :p :p
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I read you I thought to myself, "maybe once we knew one another, were related somehow, in another time and place" ... and I thought this because you reached somewhere down into a chromosome depth. Then it occurred to me that maybe we never did know one another, but some part of me, is wishing it so.
ReplyDeleteis it the season of waiting, my friend?
ReplyDeletewhen thinking of penelope I feel sorrow for a woman that is depicted only fom the past, never toward a future, we must be very careful to not be placed in a similar position, i guess
b, good to know that 'food for thought' is also welcome, when other food is out of reach :-)
ReplyDeleteS., we can't be sure of this, can we? so few things we can be sure of in this life, and the things which matter most seldom fall into this category. but the wishing, the longing is what matters, isn't it? i wish too it were true. and perhaps wishing can make things true, as they say - somehow, sometime...
ReplyDeleteThank you Owen - what would be art if not 'haunting' - which doesn't mean that i think about my images in this way, but i am happy that you do - (someone does)
ReplyDelete:-)
Hey, Marta, feeling better? (it means that my hug worked, see how modest i am :-)
ReplyDeletei am glad to hear from you here. i think the 'season of waiting' is perhaps always open, no matter what. especially if we see 'waiting' as 'longing' for something which always eludes us.
yes, you are right about Penelope, that is why i tried to look at her waiting from a different point of view here, to escape this traditional depiction of hers.