“The building has the ability to wrap itself around you, making you feel safe. All the animosity if the street is left outside, for everyone in there has come for the same reason. To be humbled by art.”
― The Godmother
"When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums."
“As once-colonized nations seek to stand on their own, the countries
once denuded of their past seek to assert their independent identities
through the objects that tie them to it. The demand for restitution is a
way to reclaim history, to assert a moral imperative over those who
were once overlords.”
― Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures . . .
― Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures . . .
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| Street facade of the Castillo Serrallés — overlooking Ponce, in southern Puerto Rico. (An agricultural museum that showcases the sugar cane and its derivative rum industry) |
Midweek Motif ~ Museum(s)
Can museum be a verb? I love museum-ed objects of art and history and the buildings that stage them and the evidence of choices made of what to include and why. Lately, I sit down frequently, so appreciate the many benches that dot museums. Also, I've grown to enjoy smaller and more obscure collections than in the past. How about you?
Your Challenge: Pick a museum, pick any museum, and write a new poem that takes us there.
Your Challenge: Pick a museum, pick any museum, and write a new poem that takes us there.
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| The Louvre in Paris. |
Museum Piece
by Richard Wilbur
The good grey guardians of art
Patrol the halls on spongy shoes,
Impartially protective, though
Perhaps suspicious of Toulouse.
Here dozes one against the wall,
Disposed upon a funeral chair.
A Degas dancer pirouettes
Upon the parting of his hair.
See how she spins! The grace is there,
But strain as well is plain to see.
Degas loved the two together:
Beauty joined to energy.
Edgar Degas purchased once
A fine El Greco, which he kept
Against the wall beside his bed
To hang his pants on while he slept.
Patrol the halls on spongy shoes,
Impartially protective, though
Perhaps suspicious of Toulouse.
Here dozes one against the wall,
Disposed upon a funeral chair.
A Degas dancer pirouettes
Upon the parting of his hair.
See how she spins! The grace is there,
But strain as well is plain to see.
Degas loved the two together:
Beauty joined to energy.
Edgar Degas purchased once
A fine El Greco, which he kept
Against the wall beside his bed
To hang his pants on while he slept.
By Ben Purkert
by this point you must be hungry
for God not the real thing only
flecks of gold paint the marble bust
of a half-bull half-man
today I took a visit to the only
museum and every last gallery was
packed with snow I mean this
literally the whole place
frozen I didn’t stay long
I was worried about melting
the art I touched my eyes lightly
to each flake and when I left
the museum I believed a bit more
in God the strangest thing was
I never shivered I knew love
the whole time
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
'Truth is not the secret of a few
yet
you would maybe think so
the way some
librarians
and cultural ambassadors and
especially museum directors
act
you'd think they had a corner
on it
the way they
walk around shaking
their high heads and
looking as if they never
went to the bath
room or anything
But I wouldn't blame them
if I were you
They say the Spiritual is best conceived
in abstract terms
and then too
walking around in museums always makes me
want to
'sit down'
I always feel so
constipated
in those
high altitudes
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| Map of museums all over the world (interactive map) |
Please share your new poem
using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community—
When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.
Andy Warhol
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/museums
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/museums
When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.
Andy Warhol
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/museums
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/museums
When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.
Andy Warhol
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/museums
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/museums
