Saturday, February 25, 2012

David Smith on the Roof

David Smith, Cubi XXVI

On the roof of the Met
burnished steel cubes,
cylinders, rectangles
and ellipsoids
balance
and tumble playfully
from the spirit of the artist
dead since '65. There's soul
in these abstracts that verge
on the functional
and defy gravity
as they jut into the hazy city's
concrete
and glass geometry.

We stray from chamber
music on the marble
and limestone balcony to the park
where rats
scamper from reservoir banks
and rustle green bushes.

We greet the litany of cab horns
and the soft pounding of sneakers
as they inscribe a charmed
circle of health. In this black
sky where stars barely shine,
we find only ourselves and desire,
and a harmony with the great soul

whose millions thrive on striking back
the demons at the edge of the circle,
and who go on to die in peace
at knowing the city
could claim only so much of them--
time and muscle, grit and grief.

(c) copyright 2012 Charles David. All rights reserved.

Note: I wrote this unpublished poem in 1999. I submitted it as part of a poetry prompt at dversepoets.com poetry prompt on sculpture.

27 comments:

  1. great piece man...i need to look up the sculpture...but you place it in the story...love the sounds on the cab horns and the sneakers as it opens this up for us to be there...and they lead well into the harmony line...and the city will def chew up some souls....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dude. The link under the title should work. If not, please tweet me.

      Delete
  2. You have the visuals all up front, very well presented,so that one can almost see the sculpture, put in motion by thought and energy, and then really hit your stride with the body and ending--I'm not a city lover, but there are some things only cities give that one has to love, and that's what's here in your poem--striking back against the demons takes a lot, but it works on so many levels when you do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love going to the Met roof. Sorry I missed Smith but I did see an elaborate network of stainless steel "branches" and saw Ellsworth Kelly - loved that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the poem goes from abstract to concrete, playing off the way that the sculpture itself intruded into the real-life geometry of NYC. Smith was influenced by urban landscapes, especially their monumentalism. It's from his work that I gained an appreciation for industrial landscapes and urban skylines. Thanks, Mark.

      Delete
  4. I like how you paint an industrial landscape with words, the cabs and the millions, relating it to a sculptor who work captures this in sculpture. I was also happy to discover an artist I did not know about before.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful painting of what and where the sculture is. Multilayered with sights and sounds.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Loved this, Charles. I would so love to visit the Met. We have a sculpture garden on the roof of "our" museum, too (NV Museum of Art). One of the things I enjoyed most about this poem is the great sense of place you've created with your sensory descriptions.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You have written a poetic description of the city...the motion of the artwork, the cabs making noise, life running at its face pace...nice work

    ReplyDelete
  8. this is so very cool charles...love how you mix the "static" with the bustling life of the city....and the best is that i'll soon be there...and surely make my way up to the met roof to have a look at the artwork...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Loved the contrast between the beautifully sculpted metal shapes against the soul consuming dirt and grit of the city. Always amazing to me how such beauty can exist in such unexpected places. Really like the opening descriptions in this piece - you made the sculpture feel almost magnetic, like it was floating, tumbling down onto the city rats below. 'time and muscle, grit and grief'- THAT captures the heartbeat of a city. Nicely done- I need to look up this sculpture.

    Btw! I can leave comments! Finally! Ha ha!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You not only described the sculpture, but go out from there to include the sights and sounds of the city and then end with surrealism. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary, As Octavio Paz said of Mexico City, surrealism runs in the streets of NYC too!

      Delete
  11. I like the details of the city..its sound and sights..and finally the silence of our great soul. The last line is powerful close ~

    Beautiful ~

    ReplyDelete
  12. I too like how you used the details of all the city life around it to make the sculpture come to life, added that much more dimension to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the time, the abstract shapes had a Platonic feel about them, and there's some irony though in the waybthe poem fills in the details with everyday life, something Plato was not exactly fond of.

      Delete
  13. Hi Charles--I love the sculpture garden on the roof of the Met. As a New Yorker, who sometimes jogs, I'm not so sure about the circle of health! I'm one of the not so healthy joggers! But I certainly can relate to the starless sky and beating back of demons. An interesting (as always) poem. K.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I really enjoyed this... especially the second stanza.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gosh... what a sculpture, all those shapes seeming to balance so precariously...and the life around in which we're all searching for a little equilibrium... wonderful verse.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I like how you start off with the description of the modern, abstract shapes and then meld that into the people that come to peruse and the city sounds...very enjoyable.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow!
    we find only ourselves and desire,
    and a harmony with the great soul

    whose millions thrive on striking back
    the demons at the edge of the circle,

    So much in this, difficult to process it all in one go. I shall return!

    ReplyDelete
  18. great integration of modern sculpture and modern day life ...I personally love abstract art and how our perceptions are unique quite like our unique perceptions on life ! thank you for sharing x

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow indeed! Very visual stuff!

    Anna :o]

    ReplyDelete
  20. I love this! your language builds layers of images into a wonderful visual form

    ReplyDelete
  21. the knowledge of architecture and history and meandering from concrete to the city park was a theatrical sort of set up for those horns and city sidewalk scene. your last graph was inspirational. love the beauty and graininess of it all. i love woody allen, and something about this reminded me of scene from manhattan, which is an all-time favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You write with soulful insight. Easy read, I enjoy. Having played in symphony orchestras, I know well the experiences of stepping out from the sublimity of great musical performance, past statuary, through that invisible wall, into the chaos of life as it is. The reality of helpless, hopeless wanderers in the night--homeless--makes for contrast difficult to share with one who's not been there.

    Thanks you.

    Re my blog post "Sobriety: Day 1...you got it right, friend! I met that guy Tuesday morning. On March 18, 2012 a Sunday...I will have been experiencing these miracle-meetings for 38 years.

    Nice to meet you, Charles. (I've been here prior to now...maybe?)
    PEACE!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I discover something new almost every day in my Gotham.. And now, you open my eyes to the roof of the Met, one of my fave City spots. How cool! Yup, the City can claim so much of us in its gritty maw...if you let it..but it gives back as well. I do like the way you wander the Met balcony with its chamber music and then bring us out into the litany of blaring horns, rats and pounding sneakers. You sculpt a city scene here, Chaz..I think David Smith would well like. I certainly do! Thank you. :))

    ReplyDelete