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Poem of the Month

Tamar Yoseloff and Lorraine Mariner
Cy Twombly, Quattro Stagioni: Inverno, from Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts), 1993 - 5

Cy Twombly
Quattro Stagioni: Inverno, from Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts) 1993 - 5
Purchased with assistance from the American Fund for the Tate Gallery and Tate Members 2002 © Cy Twombly
Acrylic, oil, and pencil on canvas
313.5 x 221.0 x 3.5 cm

Cryptographer
by Tamar Yoseloff
 
I string together little fables
in a language no one understands.

 So much wounds me.
I write it down, cross it out:

a formula for contentedness –
instead so much violence.

They could kill me with a look.

 
You come to me in dreams,
blurred touch of your hand.

 Your name scrawled on every wall.
Your shadow stalks me.

How we got here I don't know,
there is nowhere else.

Winter obliterates us, dizzy light,
our white youth.

Context:

Works by Cy Twombly in the Tate Collection Works by Bridget Riley in the Tate Collection
Bridget Riley , Hesitate, 1964

Bridget Riley
Hesitate 1964
© 2006 Bridget Riley
painting
106.7 cm x 112.4 cm

Hesitate

by Lorraine Mariner

 

Don’t let those black
full-stops get the better
of what you’ve got.

Cut yourself some slack,
give yourself some shades
of grey

on a wave
that might just take you
beyond the end of the line.

 

This July Tamar Yoseloff presents a poem written exclusively for TATE ETC., Cryptographer, based on Cy Twombly's Quattro Stagioni: Inverno, the Winter season from Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts) This work is not currently on display in the galleries but can be found in the Tate Collection online. Tamar was born in the US in 1965. Since moving to London in 1987, she has been the organiser of the Terrible Beauty reading series at the Troubadour Coffee House, Reviews Editor of Poetry London magazine, and since 2000, Programme Coordinator for The Poetry School.

Lorraine Mariner also presents her poem, Hesitate, based on Bridget Riley’s work of the same name. This work is currently on display in Tate Liverpool and other works by the same author can be viewed on the Tate Collection online. Lorraine's first poetry collection "Furniture" has just been published by Picador.