Thursday, February 20, 2025

Excavation (Willem de Kooning), Sonnet #630

 











There is an universal tendency among mankind to conceive all 

beings like themselves...We find human faces in the moon and armies

in the clouds.  David Hume


The anthropomorphic follows me around —

In carpets, tree bark, and abstract paintings.

“If I am the figure, what is the ground?”

Each face whispers, “or am I just feigning?”

Or am I the pretext for pretending,

I reason, a message I am sending

To cohere around the inchoate

Only I can look at and recognize?

These flickering (blinked) images sate

My comprehension, if not my eyes.

“My face will melt if you don’t look at me,”

These ghost images say repeatedly.

I too unseen uncertainly erase —

Though an unreal painting could take my place.

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