A Painter's Thoughts (1)

Poetry Soup – Ep. 11: “A Painter’s Thoughts (1)” by John Yau Transcript: Hello, and welcome to Poetry Soup! I’m your host, Emma Catherine Hoff. Today I’ll be talking about the poem, “A Painter’s Thoughts (1),” one of many poems of the same title by the American poet John Yau. John Yau was born on June 5, 1950, in Lynn, Massachusetts. His parents emigrated from China, and Yau’s Chinese heritage is a constant theme in his poetry, especially in his O Pin Yin sonnets, featured in his book of poetry, Genghis Chan on Drums. This book was published in 2021, and includes the poem I’ll be reading today. In addition to being a poet, Yau is a critic, and writes a lot about art. He also teaches art history. He is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Lavan Award and the Guggenheim Fellowship. He was once the arts editor of the publication The Brooklyn Rail, but now he is an editor at Hyperallergic. He also runs a publishing press called Black Square Editions. As well as speaking about “A Painter’s Thoughts (1),” I will also comment on Yau’s poem “The Philosopher (1).” Yau also has many poems by the name of “The Philosopher.” After William Bailey (1930-2020) I want to paint in a way that the “I” disappears into the sky and trees The idea of a slowed down, slowly unfolding image held my attention   Variations on a theme are of no interest. A bowl and cup are not ideas. I want my painting to be what it contains: it should speak, not me   The idea of a slowed down, slowly unfolding image held my attention I paint things made of clay, just as the pigments I use come from the earth   I want my painting to be what it contains: it should speak, not me Brown and ochre stoneware bowls beside a white porcelain pitcher   I paint things made of clay, just as the pigments I use come from the earth I place the pale eggs on a dark, unadorned tabletop and let them roll into place   Brown and ochre stoneware bowls beside a white porcelain pitcher The dusky red wall is not meant to symbolize anything but itself   I place the pale eggs on a dark, unadorned tabletop and let them roll into place I want to paint in a way that the “I” disappears into the sky and trees   The dusky red wall is not meant to symbolize anything but itself Variations on a theme are of no interest. A bowl and cup are not ideas. “A Painter’s Thoughts (1)” is after William H. Bailey, a realist artist. Bailey’s art often features still lifes, which Yau shows in his poem by saying, “I paint things made of clay…” Yau also says that Bailey’s art is not meant to symbolize anything, it is simply meant to convey the beauty of ordinary things ( “a bowl and cup are not ideas”). In a way, his art shows that things don’t have to have meaning in order to be wondrous. This is also shown when Yau says, “The dusky red wall is not meant to symbolize anything but itself.”  Bailey’s “thoughts” also show that every viewer should be able to interpret art in their own way, based on what the painting tells them, not the artist (“I want my painting to be what it contains: it should speak, not me”). Something that stands out about this poem is the form. First of all, each stanza is two lines, and there is lots of interlocking repetition. The last line of the first stanza is the first line of the third stanza, the last line of the second stanza is the first line of the fourth stanza, etc. Because each stanza is very brief, the lines are long, showing the reader how a painter thinks.  I wrote my own poem based on “The Painter’s Thoughts,”  My poem is called “The Lecturer,” about one of the characters in one of my favorite movies, “Karnavalnaya Noch,” or “Carnival Night.” The movie makes fun of the lecturer, as it is a Soviet movie making fun of such bureaucratic figures as himself. It goes like this: Lecture notes crisp in his pocket, he is given the choice to enjoy the party or ruin it.   He becomes drunk on good intentions – this is the man we all know.   He is given the choice to enjoy the party or ruin it. He calls out from backstage for signs of life.   This is the man we all know, pointing to the stars.   He calls out from backstage for signs of life, both in the crowd and on Mars.   Pointing to the stars, he finds nothing but another glass of wine.   Both in the crowd and on Mars, organisms cannot resist parties.   He finds nothing but another glass of wine, lecture notes crumpled in his fist.   Organisms cannot resist parties, he becomes drunk on his happiness. My poem has the same structure as John Yau’s poem. However, it describes the lecturer as an outside viewer might, which is not what Yau does. In his series of poems, every one modeled after a different painter, Yau is brave enough to enter the painter’s mind just by looking at their work. This is a very unique form of ekphrasis. Rather than describing the art, it uses it to show what the painter was thinking when making it. This, I think, can be done even with poetry. Because the narrator in John Yau’s poem is the painter, it manages to convey much more feeling, makes the reader wonder what the painter was really thinking about when creating their paintings, and almost combines the poet and the painter as one person – one artist. John Yau does something similar in his series of poems, “The Philosopher.”  The point of both series of poems is to