Art
in abstraction
allows you to see anything
or nothing at all
by Emily Kohns
Shades and Shapes
Drips in Dribs
Drabs of Dabs
might
Invoke Imagery,
Conjure Connections,
Manufacture Metaphors,
or they may not.
For the artist, her work is very personal;
she knows exactly what it says
or doesn’t say
If I know the artist
– and I do –
it says and means nothing
beyond pleasing colors and drips
while she creates
“satisfying” – she would say,
absorbed in her medium
only later
does she see what meaning
might be beyond
the pure joy of creation
or she doesn’t.
there is room for that,
too.
Poetry is my new medium.
I’ve been accused
of being
“wildly personal”
So.
Don’t see what I see.
See what you see.
Or see nothing at all
See
Feel
Words
Rhythm
Rhyme
Beauty in abstraction.
Ugliness, even.
I don’t need you
to see
what I see
Just.
See.
there is room for that,
too.
This is the first poem in a triptych based on this piece of art:
defying atrophy 
One thing I like about your poems is that, even though I think I know what a poem is about for you, I can still find meaning to myself, too. What I’m trying to say is, they’re deep and multifaceted.
I can relate to finding meaning in a piece after it is done…or not. 🙂
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Can I forward this to my friend who said I’m “wildly personal” and lack universality? 😜
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I see Detroit from Belle Isle. Standing on the south end of the island, you look downriver toward downtown and the Renaissance Center. It’s one of my favorite views because it’s peaceful where I stand but bustling across the water.
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I see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – probably because we were just there and the colors evoke the water and stone. Good stuff, Emily! (And Ben.)
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