Around the fish, 1926

Paul Klee, German, (1879-1940)

Museum of Modern Art, New York

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Around the Fish: After Paul Klee

1

The mind from nature, divorced by love,
Stunned into being by the running wave,
Swims backward always. Around the fish,
Unreasoning sensation made a wish.
Parsley, persevering in a tree,
Maturely withers in the alchemy
Of elms and willows. So with us
The elementary is most serious.
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2

Wishing, the Fisher King sat down
(Bait was his body, but his catch a crown!)
Incarnate fish sood rose again,
Hooked to the level of his flawless line;
The sea stirred; sunlight's mica hurled
Aroma of the fish around the world;
Darwin breathed it on another shore,
Gasping the less than liquid air.

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3

Swimmers, crying inthe undertow,
A water blinds us where we go;
The whirpool of the inner eye
Has wet ambitions, casts its fly
On sightless water; baited, fed,
Its fishing pole hangs by a thread.
But Christ lies on the blue plate, still.
The spawnless salmon strike to kill!
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Howard Moss, American, (1922-1987)
Selected Poems
New York, 1971, Atheneum

For more information on this painting:

http://moma.org
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For more information on this poet:

http://nybooks.com/authors/2491 -

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