{"id":11992,"date":"2021-09-13T13:18:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T12:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11992"},"modified":"2021-11-02T21:17:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T20:17:27","slug":"2-poems-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11992","title":{"rendered":"2 Poems<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h3>\n

Saturn Devouring His Son
\npainted at Quinta del Sordo (Deaf Man\u2019s Villa)<\/em><\/h3>\n

On Saturn, it is raining diamonds.<\/span>
\nSoot falls and Goya picks up his palette.<\/span>
\nHe has a choice of four blacks: bone black,<\/span>
\nlamp black, ivory black and red black.<\/span>
\nA prophecy declares war on Justice.<\/span>
\nThe very thing Saturn is warned will happen \u2013 one of his sons will overthrow him \u2013
\n<\/em>spurs him to snatch his son, dig his fingers deep<\/span>
\ninto the boy\u2019s torso and bite off his head.<\/span>
\nSoot is falling on Saturn and as it descends<\/span>
\nGoya considers the reds at his disposal,<\/span>
\njust two: vermilion and burnt sienna,<\/span>
\nbut there is no subtlety in blood \u2013 when blood is spilled, it is noticed, however tiny the drop \u2013
\n<\/em>when red is applied to a dark canvas,<\/span>
\nit commands the gaze as a graze<\/span>
\non a child\u2019s knee commands the gaze.<\/span>
\nThis is Goya\u2019s black period. The painting<\/span>
\nis on the wall. Lightning storms are turning<\/span>
\nmethane into soot. Soot falls on Saturn \u2013 Saturn, god of time, attempts to reverse fate \u2013
\n<\/em>a god gobbles his future and summons Justice.<\/span>
\nGoya sizes up the painting on the wall.<\/span>
\nWhat black will he use for the pupils?<\/span>
\nEyes lit with frenzy. Perhaps lamp black.<\/span>
\nAs soot falls on Saturn, it could be described<\/span>
\nas carbon black which hardens as Saturn\u2019s will \u2013 he fetishises fate, eats the meat of his flesh \u2013
\n<\/em>he butchers his boy in a state of bone black<\/span>
\narousal. Graphic violence as soot falls<\/span>
\non Saturn and hardens into graphite,<\/span>
\nfalls further, plummeting new depths<\/span>
\nto crystallise into diamond hailstones,<\/span>
\nshowering riches on Saturn, and Goya \u2013 who paints with oils on his dining room wall \u2013
\n<\/em>dips his brush in red black for the cavity<\/span>
\nof Saturn\u2019s mouth. As the uncut diamonds<\/span>
\nrain down earth-span after earth-span<\/span>
\ninto Saturn\u2019s hot core, where the heat<\/span>
\nis hellish and the pressure for change<\/span>
\ninescapable, they melt in a sea of carbon \u2013 and Goya paints Saturn on his knee in ivory black.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Have you seen a tree fall?<\/h3>\n

I saw a tree fall in a wood once,<\/span>
\nas in once upon a time, as in once.<\/span>
\nI was young and with my father<\/span><\/p>\n

in the wood, the wood where we<\/span>
\nwalked most Sundays. All those walks<\/span>
\nfalling into each other, all those Sundays<\/span><\/p>\n

through beech and oak and down<\/span>
\nthe side of the old quarry, up to the ridge,<\/span>
\nthe same Sunday walk, the comfort<\/span><\/p>\n

of ritual, but this one standout moment,<\/span>
\nseparated from all the others, that closed<\/span>
\nlike a fan, into a stiff, held memory<\/span><\/p>\n

of a Sunday walk to be considered.<\/span>
\nThat tree, like a closed ebony fan,<\/span>
\nwas dark and hard and to be considered,<\/span><\/p>\n

because the tree became a symbol<\/span>
\nwith its own secret language, that could<\/span>
\nupbraid me for my semiotic ignorance,<\/span><\/p>\n

that could rap me on the head if I didn\u2019t spot<\/span>
\nthe hole, the missing sticks, the deep crack,<\/span>
\nthe way leaf was lost from the outside in.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I was young, I understood none of this.<\/span>
\nI stood and watched the tree fan out<\/span>
\nand fall, take up all the space in the wood<\/span><\/p>\n

for one rushing moment, sweeping away sky,<\/span>
\nsweeping away the figure of my father,<\/span>
\nsweeping every Sunday walk into once<\/span><\/p>\n

upon a time, the way a fan drawn across<\/span>
\neyes means, I am sorry, <\/em>and placed behind<\/span>
\nthe head means, don\u2019t forget me.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturn Devouring His Son painted at Quinta del Sordo (Deaf Man\u2019s Villa) On Saturn, it is raining diamonds. Soot falls and Goya picks up his palette. He has a choice of four blacks: bone black, lamp black, ivory black and red black. A prophecy declares war on Justice. The very thing Saturn is warned will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":358,"featured_media":12078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[401,405],"tags":[404],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n2 Poems - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11992\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11992&page=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 Poems - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saturn Devouring His Son painted at Quinta del Sordo (Deaf Man\u2019s Villa) On Saturn, it is raining diamonds. 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