DeletedUser3313
It amuses me enormously to paint the night
right on the spot. Normally, one draws
and paints the painting during the daytime
after the sketch. But I like
to paint the thing immediately.
-Vincent Van Gogh
Cafe Terrace at Nightright on the spot. Normally, one draws
and paints the painting during the daytime
after the sketch. But I like
to paint the thing immediately.
-Vincent Van Gogh
The painter remains removed out of scene
too far away to make out love or gender;
far enough away that only the orange glow
of a bustling cafe at night seems sure --
sure enough to make the sky almost blue
and the cobblestone violet and green -- the way oil might play with light --
& everything improves in the evening light of a cafe.
Van Gogh works off camera,
a lit cigarette
the ember of which makes like one of the stars
he would famously script.
He is able to step outside; to see himself as himself
& so
he paints at night to be sure of night
to let the shadows and light play games with him. And they do.
If someone loved him enough, they might make him step forward
but he remains alone, framing from the dark.
He is not mad but madness is coming
around the corner
and as clear as he can hear the hooves
of carriage horses or the distinct sound of a gun going off, far off
and further still, off stage.
But tonight he is beautiful. Hair wild with the most brilliant orange paint on his fingers.
Cast in the black sky he refuses to paint black, his eyes still electric,
he paints his scene as if blurred by tears
not enjoying the evening but drawing others with theirs.
He is all genius on the edge of a fall
defining everything bright and what little good.