The Great Beauty

Trouble in baroque tone
surrounded the heart of

rural farmland, ossifying
brambles into hoar tufts.

Vine lashes a castle then
hardens there. Naturally

things are closed in glass,
such as the floating rose.

In a cloistered grove flies
apotheosize a white stag.

Meanwhile, left to fester
gourds burst in the patch.

Stiller Tag am Meer III

after Lyonel Feininger

Against its bow, a sea of
lenses, heavy with green

sediment in layers adrift.
Boats keel as if to music.

Every sail's a triangle of
glass, the jib but a shard.

Miracles fainting toward
a windy sun, light filling.

Feininger's masterpieces
required years and years,

his discourse upbuilding,
a focus to crowd infinity.