September 19th: Stephen Pause

Stephen Pause took great pictures at the Met, some of them I have uploaded here but the majority of them are at his excellent blog Teratology. He also has captions/details there.

September 18th

I wrote in the rather peculiar dining room of the Louis Downe house which was constructed in London in the mid 1970's. This room is part of the extensive Anne Laurie Aitken Galleries. There is nowhere in the galleries to sit (that isn't roped off) so I wrote standing today. The whole time I was there only one other person entered the room.



The Dinner Party

To be surrounded by statuary,
the false armor of men,
pedestal heightened,

and at the dinner table,
green beans and steak
are on your plate,

the smallest sherry glass
in your hand. The nude
statues have fig leaves.

The shadow they cast less noticeable
underneath the chandelier,
false candles refracted.


Factors
Day of the Week: Saturday
Occupancy of Museum: Crowded at the entrances, empty elsewhere.
Arrived at: 9:30
Departed at: 10:30
Read on Commute: Provenance by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, which is a little uneven at the moment.

September 10th,

The Met was very lively today. Fridays and Saturdays at the Met they have live classical music in the Balcony, starting at five, which adds nicely to the ambiance of the grand entrance hall, and almost gives the Met a festive air. I wrote in the Carrol and Milton Petris European Sculpture Court. There were lots of kids running around and a fair number of teenagers drawing the statues. It all made it a little hard to concentrate and I think that affected the work that I produced, which seemed to consist largely of doodles.


Pitch-Pine

We've tracked veins
back to fault

lines but blood
is unpredictable.

We share it
reluctantly, you and I.

This distant
sibling hood.



Factors
Day of the Week: Friday
Occupancy of Museum: Almost busy, very loud.
Arrived at: 4:50
Departed at: 6:00
Read on Commute: I finished Caring For Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, and read some more of Thunderstruck by Eric Larson,