A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, after Manet

Painting

The Art of David Wiley

 Poetry

Duels with Beauty/A Prayer
 
Beauty is exuberance
thus we are seduced
thus we are a compilation
of all the things
that have seduced us
 
every harebrained gesture
true or false
that set the world spinning
deep within
the unbearable torpor
of our longing
 
every set of words
that added
a novel piece of edifice
ugly or divine
to the impalpable blueprint
of our becoming
 
all the one-implanted seeds
bursting in the feverish
amniotic fields
of our nameless desire
each of the little gongs
that signaled the élan's advance
and the mournful whistles
that followed its retreat
 
grant me the vision
to see Beauty's ploys
to see how she moves
though all the interstices
of freedom's odyssey
 
grant me the strength
to hold Beauty's force
tightly against the flesh
of my soul
long enough
to let her music
permeate my bones
 
give me the trustful innocence
to open all doors and windows
to the sweeping advances
of Beauty's invincible oceans
 
grant me the magic shield
to parry Beauty's thrusts
and send her reeling
onto her own stage
illuminated by her own laughs
where from a certain distance
I will watch and discover
like a child
absorbing a circus
 
I will forsake food and sleep
these gardens of delight
will nourish me forever
these graceful movements
regular as the stars
will give me rest
 
I will clutch her in my arms
and we will roll
on the floor of the forest
biting and scratching
learning each other's warts
 
overhead the birds will chatter
somewhere a cat will nod
the trees will sigh
and in the autumn
under the cover of leaves
we will dream together
of all those worlds
where there is no doubt whatever
that everything has wings.

Art and Poetry Selection:
Lissa Tyler Renaud