Thanks for posting these wonderful ekphrastic poems. I can't resist making a little contribution of my own...
WHISTLER DECORATES THE PEACOCK ROOOM, 1876-1877
The room an empty space that he would fill
with his extravagant design--with blue
and gold he'd lavish everywhere until
the room outshone what it would hold and through
such alchemy allowed him to forget
the canvases he'd left for months undone;
those spare arrangements he could not perfect
with hours of study, then a quick, pained lunge
with brush and paint.
..........................Not like this dizzy joy,
this circling round and round the gilded room
'til even he could gild no more, so buoyant
with the borrowed brilliance of that plumage
that he invited half of London out
to see his triumph over painted doubt.
Please note that the dots in the the second half of line 9 are not part of the poem; I couldn't get the text to indent otherwise!
Lisa
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