PAUL HERTELENDY

WORLDS IN FLESH AND BLOOD ATREMBLE El Greco caught those visionary views of saints In lustrous robes, illuminated Through the spiritual fire deep within. The painter with palette Of flesh and blood, Of drippy blues and burnished silver Looked into the worlds beyond, Of trembling towns Of glowering skies That won’t stand still, Transporting viewers to unsettled heavens Where perdition, like today, remains uncomfortably close. Good God, you’ve given us this devil-genius Animating all the neutral spaces in between Your realm and the one below!

(A poem about the avant-garde 16th-century painter El Greco,
who was born in Greece, trained in the Italian Renaissance,
and spent his mature career in Spain.)

©2008 by Paul Hertelendy. The illlustration is El Greco's self-portrait, courtesy of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. This poem first posted May 26, 2008.

Paul Hertelendy is critic and webmaster for the arts-review web site www.artssf.com, and is also the Piedmont (CA) Centennial poet laureate. To visit his website, click here: PAUL

 

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