painting by Max Eden Charles Fisher's personal pages
poetry, travel, cyber-ephemera
Max Eden, "Interval at the Theatre" 28" x 24"
FLY POEM

Trois Vignettes

Gare Maritime, and a black night smelling
Of seaweed. Max approaches
Dressed for Cambodia, his accent borrowed
From Oxford vicars. ‘Could you, I wonder,
Change a small personal cheque?' Most certainly.
(Young travellers should trust each other. Besides,
I like the opening remark.)

Place St. Michel. The calf of the Bacchanal
Appears in duplicate to recommend
La cave, a clip joint. Max, euphorikos
Bangs his way in, extracts an acrobat
(No easy trick) a lithe funambulist
Plastered with cocoa-butter; she delights
Our forager, and he, true son of Helen
Astounds this tourist haven, for who could resist
His arms, his windmill dancing? (Silly tales
Of Philemon and Baucis come to mind.)

Pleasures of Spain: a terrace looking south
And girls rose-garlanded, canonical,
Beneath a trellis overhung with vines;
A long white house, ‘another lovely day'.

And Max? He Paints. Observe these canvases
Whose structure serves but as a web to trap
Whatever truth the image hides from us.
‘Look, yes; but look to see!' here logic drifts
Apart like ice, appearance modulates
To likeness, whereupon a plate
Of shy greengroceries, a modest theme,
Cowers behind the easel. Gloria!
(Or so it seemed in that precarious Eden
So long -- is it, indeed, so long? -- ago.)

Charles Fisher
Poems from Locust Years
Leaving England, 1953
Cammarch Waters
Some Prodigies
Norwich 1942
Chorus for a Poet
Song for Lost Lovers
Conscription of a Painter
Another Dimension
No Lamp so Bright
Recuerdos de Las Chinitas
Invitation au Voyage
To Jane M. from the Azores
In Vain Shall Lover's Sighs
Song
Beauty and the Beast
For Karen
Gilberte
...more to come

Coming soon:

Writing about Dylan Thomas, the Kardomah group, more poetry, polo


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with technical assistance from Caitlin
Caitlin and Charles in Thailand