A Poem by Michelle Blake
CAVE PAINTINGS
BY MICHELLE BLAKE
Cedar Press Review April 2020
When we study them we slight desire
but humans already loved the earth
the antelopes with their bounding backs
humpback bison, auroch
On the dark sheath of lime
they called to them, Come, come
Because that is what humans do
We want things
Yes they ate them
but first they watched them—frenzy of hoof
and foreleg, floodscape of sound and gallop
flowing away away
What herds must have looked like
to limb-bound humans—
god, music
Score of antelope, score of deer
How do you make thunder on walls
lope and arc, lope and arc
In the firelight they saw
the animals dance
lion, bison, antelope, horse
Oh beauty, oh desire
Oh mind unfolding
Can desire be slighted? I think perhaps not. Julian of Norwich proposed that it is Christ himself that teaches our hearts desire. The poem above is by our own Michelle Blake. She and Dennis are ‘social distancing’ with their family in Vermont. But now her words are here among us. What do we make of them? Michelle uses in this poem an ancient artistic device called Ekphrasis. It is a Greek word that refers to the enlightened experience through contemplation of an object of art. Two other examples that come to mind are Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn, and Lapis Lazuli by William Butler Yeats. It is as if art, more particularly artifice, bears the ability to freeze in time mystery; and when engaged, may impart that mystery, or a taste of it, to the observer. But that of course requires much from the observer… an enlivened imagination, a submission of ego, and love.
Michelle has not shared with me her own interpretation, not that interpretation is essential to the experience of poetry; nor has she shared with me her motivation(s) for this poem. But it says to me something important for us people of faith, who trust that God is in the world engendering the Good.
So just a few observations: The poem of course is about the experience of God… the experience of God in the common things of earth; though is there anything in earth that is just “common?” The experience of God is the same as the experience of beauty, that is to say, that we encounter God through our aesthetic sensibilities; how else can one envision the divine in a rustic and faded cave drawing? But there is a mysterious connection here between beauty and sustenance. Our souls and bodies an inseparable entity. Such is God’s alchemy. But most of all, God is in motion, inevitable motion. Like music. Like desire. God will not leave things alone. Alas, the animals in the cave, the ancient urn, the Lapis stone are mere dissections of the mystery. But there is nothing mere about mystery. We find God in movement, the process of life and death, transient, mutable… like music. Like desire. Unfrozen. It is in movement that beauty resides. It is only a slight taste, but a taste is all there is…. And it is more than enough.
A Prayer for Joy in God’s Creation (BCP p. 814)
O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to see your hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
