Empty Landscape
What is parting
when neither wishes to leave?
Far from ignoring the distance
between us, we embrace a landscape
that becomes more barren
the greater that distance.
Once close, it seems we are meant to be
apart, even as we are together.
This poem was written as a response to an ekphrastic challenge at The Ekphrastic Review, but it didn’t make the cut. Even as I submitted it I knew it’s a poem that is still unfinished. Perhaps that’s a reflection of a scene that is, itself, unfinished. In the painting, “Figures in a Landscape,” by Bertram Brooker, I see the despair of having a need to part without the willingness to do so.
Responses to the challenge can be found here,
including two fine examples by Merril Smith and Kim Russel.
Image source: Art Canada Institute
rivrvlogr 
.
disturbing
yet it is on the road to something
some distance
apart reminding
how close
.
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Many things in life are disturbing, beneath the surface.
Thank you, Daniel.
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deep … maybe you will finish it for him ..
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I see deep sadness in the painting.
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indeed but you could complete it on a note a hope …
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We both picked up on the sadness. I like how you mention the distance between them, even when they’re close.
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Thank you, Merril. With the body language, I see that distance growing.
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The landscape of a relationship, not so unlike many I encounter.
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It’s something you see – going through the motions.
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Yes, that’s it, that resonates.
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You capture the feeling of the painting.. i like that you posted it despite being rejected. Im still always interested in reading the response, even if it wasn’t chosen
That said, I have dozens of rejections I haven’t posted myself…of course I always feel I need to do art as well. So they pile up. (K)
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Thanks, Kerfe. I figure why not.
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