Saying Goodbye to Catullus: Cy Twombly

Postings this week will include selections from Art and Artists: Poems, an anthology of ekphrastic poems by Emily Fragos, Knopf, 2012. Of his work, the painter Cy Twombly (1928-2011) said : “It does not illustrate. It is the sensation of its own realization.” He was much influenced by poets like Catullus, Rumi, Pound and Rilke. More on Twombly.

Cy Twombly’s Untitled (Say Goodbye Catullus, to the shores of Asia Minor)
—The Twombly Gallery-Houston, Texas

by Javier O. Huerta

A child could not have drawn this.
Maybe something more like 67 children.
(Each with his or her own favorite ice cream.) 

         And not just
Ordinary children. All 67 would have five arms each.
And each arm would have three hands and each hand
Would hold three brushes and two pencils.

And, in his or her own way, each child would love and 

         hate Catullus.
Love him so much that they would crawl the streets 

        of Rome in search of him.
Hate him so much that they would crawl the streets 

        of Rome in search of him.

335 arms to embrace him. 1005 hands to maul him.

Catullus, give back all the beautiful words.

The artist stands before his monumental painting.

ekphrastic poems painters poets