A poem from the book
The Next World
was recently published
in
the journal associated
with
the press that published my last book,
Absence: Presence,
and will be publishing my next book,
The Next World
on January 28th, 2025.
You can find the poem here.
This poem is about looking at one of Rembrandt’s last self-portraits in the National Gallery, London.
Rembrandt’s self-portraits become increasingly more interesting, gain depth, as he ages. Lines and loss. I sat there on a bench in front of the painting for a good long time, basically having a conversation with the painting, while absorbing what was going on in the gallery around me.
 |
| Rembrandt at 23 |
There’s an element in American culture that says a person must have a specific and clearly delineated sense of what the “self” is (I am this, I am that, I like this, I don’t like that), that it must be a solid thing, or something must be wrong. This poem plays around with that a bit.
 |
| Rembrandt at 32 |
Everything is transient, always changing, why wouldn’t the “self” be the same?
 |
| Rembrandt at 42 |
And so, here’s the first section:
 |
| Rembrandt at 63 |
Self-Portrait
(Rembrandt)
1.
Old Man Rembrandt’s face looked into mine. In this painting
he is perpetually 63, a year from death. I was 51, death close
from a recent funeral. What did he see? The ones who stopped
in front of the painting and lingered were all older, their faces
lined, slack, beginning that slow decline, like mine; the skin’s
longing for earth…
You can find the poem here.
****************************************
The Next World
coming in January.
Cover image by Clark Walding: Distant View, 1992.
Oil and wax over color montype. 44 x 44 inches (111.7 x 111.7 cm). Used with permission of the artist.
