POEMS Gallery
  THE POND    The Pond (cropped)  

THE BREAKING OF RAINBOWS
The Breaking of Rainbows by Howard Nemerov "Oil is spilling down the little stream Below the bridge. Heavy and slow as blood, Or with an idiot’s driveling contempt: The spectral film unfolding, spreading forth Prismatically in a breaking of rainbows, Reflective radiance, marble evanescence, It shadows the secret moves the water makes, Creeping upstream again, then prowling down, Sometimes asleep in the dull corners, combed As the deep grass is combed in the stream’s abandon, And sometimes tearing open silently Its seamless fabric in momentary shapes Unlikened and nameless as the shapes of sky That open with the drift of cloud, and close, High in the lonely mountains, silently. The curve and glitter of it as it goes The maze of its pursuit, reflect the water In agony under the alien, brilliant skin It struggles to throw off and finally does Throw off, on its frivolous purgatorial fall Down to the sea and away, dancing and singing Perpetual intercession for this filth— Leaping and dancing and singing, forgiving everything." The printed poem is the background of the painting. The aluminum shapes are painted underneath with fluorescent colors, and mirrors reflect the colors.
Tom Brown
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