The Life Brigade 1881
Winslow Homer: oil on canvas

Four men in
bad weather gear

oilskins already
wet with rain

stand watching
the sea embroiled,

daubs of color
on concrete walk

suggests the storm,
the ocean beyond

thick with
Van Gogh colors,

menacing clouds,
a burgeoning

swirling sky



The Wreck of the Iron Cross-1881
Winslow Homer: watercolor

The bow of
a lifeboat lifted

clear of the sea
by murderous

swells, all oars
raised, anticipating

the plunge;
marooned on

Black Midden rocks
the wreck of

The Iron Cross,
intact still, withstanding,

for the moment,
relentless waves



2 Fanatsies and a Caprice

your absence
is filled
by music

a child prodigy's
gifted hands,
fingers

playing Chopin
Copeland
Mendelsohn

on a cold
Sunday
afternoon

without
you



Nocturne in Blue and Gold 1872-75
James McNeill Whistler

Unfiltered
shade

a blue-grey
canopy

in descent:
coal dust

& fog;

beneath
old wooden

Battersea
Bridge,

a lone
fisherman

waits



About the author:
Alan Catlin next book , "Playing Tennis with Antonioni", is due shortly from March Street Press. He feels vindicated that watching all those Fine Art movies multiple times was not, as it was said, "A complete and utter waste of time."

© 2011 Word Riot