Chief Virtue

ODDLY, some name the rarely called on
VALOR for ultimate virtue; not, in valor’s
STEAD, descending Spirit’s
FRUIT, patience, say, of need each day.

Revenge

NURSE revenge into flame, Edmond Dantès, hero of conflicted
GENRE, vigilante tale relenting on its final stretch.
EAGER reader, wanting justice, is swept along in wrath.
NEWER heart gives up its arson at the end—only after anger has blazed lives to cinders.

New Medium

PHASE: Impressionism’s hard-fought vogue, now alight.
FIRST signs photography is gaining force.
“PHOTO”—transcribing light, absent painter’s brush—can it end or fixate
STYLE? Does Daguerre war with artist’s freedom, or will new styles yet shine?


Note: imagining the impressionists, (named for the painting below, exhibited 1874) some years later, their movement having overcome harsh reception by the art establishment. But photography,(Daguerreotype from 1838) was already gathering steam. What would this mean for visual arts?

Boulevard du Temple by Louis Daguerre, ca. 1838 (source: Wikipedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard_du_Temple_(photograph)

Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet (source: Wikipedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression,_Sunrise


Cold Society

AGONY of society should be tempered by kind association, she muses.
FROCK, new, beautiful, sewn for weeks, distraction from the
SCARE of a ball: all those people, and who is a friend? All will
GRILL on her family’s decline. Or worse, coolly snub her.

How Unfirm a Foundation

QUAIL at rising tide, storm-hauled inundation, joined with—strange combination—
DRIER land, cracked and barren, sifted into dust.
GIVEN we, as grasshoppers scoffing winter, devour all in lust,
PLACE is no constant, infirm future no foundation.

Koala Revenge

KOALA reposed in tree dreaming of reverse.
BUILD cuteness overload into Koala take on humans, give them lovable
SCAMP reputation, saddle them with obsession about the leaves they eat, everyone
NOSEY about all their ways. Ha, humans, enjoy rumors of your cuddliness!


Dreaming of Reverse

Our own inventions

PRONG one and two, new era’s moves—assign them signs:
GRAPH, knowledge harnessed for power of prediction.
WITCH, resupplying missing mystery by inventing spirits.
VOILA! Now deeply drink from wells of self and choice; the self-made do not pray to gods.

Fragile Beauty

FULLY submerge into a beautiful aria from the stereo:
PURER moment, touch of transcendence. Then wafts over a
FISHY cooking smell from neighbors, followed by candidate’s jarring
KNOCK on front door. Maybe I need a stronger concept of beauty.

No escape

CHINA softly clinks in parlor’s quiet.
FAINT fear stirs: no margin here for mind to wander.
BONEY, her grandmother’s hand rises, falls, rises, falls for tea time’s rite.
GAFFE?—one lies along this labyrinth’s every path.

Tapir herd

DELTA river branches out as tree crown where it meets the ocean.
ROTOR, holds us suspended to scan for needle, to
QUOTE the pilot from before lift-off at New Orleans: The escaped
TAPIR pair may not be found. Can they found a Delta herd?