Sometimes

by Paul Hartal

Sometimes,
I don’t know how,
I hover over
The Tropic of Capricorn,
Riding on a cirrus
Wispy, white and torn,
Looking at the azure sea
Below.

Sometimes,
I don’t know why,
I am suddenly
At the Arno in Florence,
Listening to Dante’s
Sweet verse at the fence,
While Beatrice is flitting, pure
And shy.

And sometimes,
I don’t know what
For, but I would like
To assist Peter Schlemihl
Finding his lost shadow,
Hammer the anvil
Without iron or purpose
On a yacht.

And sometimes,
I don’t know when,
My heart desires
To become a remote fjord,
Aurora borealis
Playing harpsichord,
Or, in the frozen tundra,
Cyclamen.




Paul Hartal's picture

ABOUT THE POET ~
A man of many Odysseys, Paul Hartal is a Canadian poet, author and artist born in Szeged, Hungary. His critically acclaimed books include Postmodern Light (poetry, 2006), Love Poems (2004), The Kidnapping of the Painter Miró (novel, 1997, 2001), The Brush and the Compass (1988), Painted Melodies (1983) and A History of Architecture (1972) ., In 1975 he published in Montreal A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism. Lyco Art is a new element on the periodic table of aesthetics, which intertwines the logic of passion with the passion of logic. In 1980 the Lyrical Conceptualist Society hosted the First International Poetry Exhibition in Montreal., In 1978 Hartal exhibited his paintings at the Musée du Luxembourg and the Raymond Duncan Gallery in France and his canvas Flowers for Cézanne won the Prix de Paris. He also has displayed his oeuvre in museums and galleries in New York, Montreal, Budapest, as well as many other places., He approaches poetry with the credo that the heart of poetry is the poetry of the heart. A recurring theme of his recent work explores the human tragedies of wars and genocides.


Last updated March 22, 2012