For the New Year, 1981
Denise Levertov, British, 1923-1997
I have a small grain of hope–
Detail of Ice Drawing, 2012, installation consisting of video (color, silent, projected through structure) and structure with metal armature and hanging crystals. Joan Jonas, American born 1936.
Loaned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to MOMA, NY in 2018
one small crystal that gleams
As above
clear colors out of transparency.
As above
I need more.
As above
I break off a fragment to send you.
As above
Please take this grain of hope so that mine won’t shrink.
Please share your fragment so that yours will grow.
The Path through the Irises, 1914-1917, oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
The artist cultivated more than forty varieties of irises at his estate in Giverney. ‘Generous’ the museum calls his planting schema with irises ‘blurring the edges of gravel pathways.’
Only so, by division, will hope increase
As above
like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower unless
As above
you distribute the clustered roots, unlikely source–
As above
clumsy and earth-covered–
As above
of grace.
As above
As above
Merci pour le grain d’espoir, Sarah. Au printemps je le planterai dans mon jardin.
You and me both, Louis. Have a good new year!