False Day
Squalls of rain patter on
The hedge, around the dark green
Lichen on the trellis, on
The vermilion of nandina
And the orange fires
Of maples and camellias,
Smoking in the umber
Of our lowering Vermeer,
Dull rooms colored by
Lapis lazuli into veneer;
In the shallow sky
At dead of year
All our agonies
Seem endless, so
Glazed the sun
In its underpainted gesso.
November 12th–16th, 2023
Magnolia
Explanation
Mantegna’s illusionist painting in the Ducal Palace of Mantua and Andrea Pozzo’s trompe-l’oeil dome in the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome are examples of quadrature, false perspectives which use foreshortened figures and a vanishing point to create the illusion of a vaulted ceiling on a flat overhead canvas, a false sky.
Water particles in the crystalline air of False Bay on San Juan Island created an illusive landscape on Thanksgiving week in November of 2023.
Vermeer used underpaint to lend a subliminal tint to the bluish pearl of his skies and rooms. Nature uses its own offings, just out of sight, the reflections of storm seas on grey clouds, to tint the leaves and dull the walls in the oyster light of what almost seem like false days that fall dully in the garden. But behind that false veneer, hidden in the poem, is Vermeer’s lapis lazuli, the blue sky underpainted behind the clouds.
False Bay on San Juan Island is very shallow, so boats who moor in the “false” bay are left stranded at low tide on the exposed mud flats and sand bars, which teem with invertebrate life. It is a marine preserve, owned by the University of Washington, and managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. It is also a National Historical Park.
Although it comes by its falseness honestly, I feel it is an inspiring metaphor for the flaws inherent in perception. Mirror images are mere reflections of reality. Someone gave Picasso two identical Polaroid images of one of his works for authenticating. He wrote on one, True, and on the other, False.
There is a nearby structure designed by the adventurous architectural firm of Olson Kundig called the False Bay Writer’s Cabin, which I feel should be a beacon for false writing. Or at least a warning to look closely at any manuscripts produced nearby.