16 x 20"; oil on masonite (2006)
This is based on a poem by Paul Bowles written in 1940 called Scene VIII which reads
as follows ...
Can we make wounds beautiful?
The tiger at the window smiles.
More fearful even than its breath
Are the hearts pounding and the clocks that tick.
If one could paralyze the strong and bleed the
sick
Before the idiotic day of death!
The severed telephones, blood on the dials,
Give us no gauge to measure our disease.
The tiger looks as skin is pulled from flesh:
Wheels stopped in the lightning of decay.
Nght continues, but the footprints stay.
Wind on their trail, the odor coming fresh.
The final rain kills the remaining trees.
My doing the painting was suggested by a friend and the result is shown above. It should be
noted that a painting is not a poem and a poem is not a painting. Hopefully one would
compliment the other.
Visit the official Paul Bowles website to learn more about him ... Paul Bowles