the art of being there

yesterday i spent some more time at the tate, staring at a piece i want to write about (it will be my first ekphrastic poem). the only clue i'll give is its materials: oil, lead, dust and varnish on glass. it's the closest i've ever felt art come to a piece of poetry (on the page)--my brain clunk clunking as i try to unpack its images, to find some way to see and then connect its separate parts into a conceptual whole. but like poetry, i'm not trying to understand it. i want to get the feeling, to capture it at full speed. but i need more art vocabulary--words which suit the format. so i'm doing research inbetween the bore of applications. if there's any down time before tomorrow's deadlines (the evil-secretarial half of writing) i plan to watch this. it's one of my favorites. more later!