dense tropical jungle hangs heavy
above our dugout canoe as we glide
stealthily on midnight blue waters
mottled with red glow of fluorescent
fish feeding along the muddy banks
our guide shines white flashlight
on canopy of trees that reflect neon
green and yellow back at wide eyes
straining to see into velvet black night
we hear coos, chirps, howls, screams
alongside and above us; both in far
distance beyond coffeed trunks, now
too close…beware a jaguar’s pounce!
______________
Melissa hosts at dVerse poets today. This poem was my first impression of Emil Nolde’s painting. After reading this article about the German expressionist artist also being a Nazi supporter, I wonder if he painted a river/path of blood? This was painted before his joining the “socialist” party but perhaps the violence is within us, waiting to come out…we cannot separate our art from who we truly are.
a poem in my pocket 
Feb 20, 2025 @ 13:15:06
I love your interpretation of this painting, Lynn! Great poem!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Feb 20, 2025 @ 15:45:24
thank you, Yvette! i appreciate your comment 🙂
Feb 20, 2025 @ 12:24:56
Love how the painting took you to amazon. Wonderful imagery. I agree with your afterwords, Lynn.
Feb 20, 2025 @ 15:46:39
Thanks for reading and commenting, Punam!
Feb 19, 2025 @ 18:55:27
love the imagery in this one! the colors really are beautiful.
Feb 20, 2025 @ 16:31:15
Yes, the colors are lush. Thanks for reading!
Feb 19, 2025 @ 13:45:20
Lynn, love the visual imaginings you gave each aspect of the painting. I see them literally and then go beyond, into the metaphors. I appreciate your afterword also.
Feb 20, 2025 @ 15:48:06
Thanks, Lisa…I’m glad you stopped by to read and comment 🙂
Feb 20, 2025 @ 17:49:31
You’re very welcome.
Feb 19, 2025 @ 10:29:34
Wow, very creative! I love your take on the painting.
Feb 19, 2025 @ 10:39:54
Thank you so much!
Feb 19, 2025 @ 10:23:20
You captured the uneasiness that many have described in exploring the Amazon–those howls and screams, eerie! And Nolde’s work, too.
Nolde was a Nazi, not a socialist. Though socialist is in the full name of the Nazi, they were not socialists. Fascism and socialism are NOT the same thing.
Feb 19, 2025 @ 10:44:00
Thanks, Merril 🙂
Socialism can seem good theoretically but often in practice deteriorates into fascism… history shows this.
Feb 19, 2025 @ 11:14:06
You’re welcome, Lynn!
Perhaps. . . but even so, my point is that Nazis are not and were not socialists. And I do understand what history shows. 😉
Feb 20, 2025 @ 16:21:21
Thanks for making your point, Merril. I edited my remarks on my post to put quotation marks around “socialist”.
Feb 19, 2025 @ 03:56:36
luv your motif of intrigue, nice one Lynn
Thanks for dropping by my blog
much♡love
Feb 20, 2025 @ 15:53:05
Thanks for stopping by to read, Gillena.
Feb 19, 2025 @ 03:00:58
I love that this strange painting took you to the Amazon, Lynn, in true ekphrastic style. Your poem evoked the jungle with the heavily hanging dense tropical jungle and the sounds we may hear there, and I love the use of colour. However, I am not a fan of any of Nolde’s work.
Feb 20, 2025 @ 15:56:06
Thanks for your comments, Kim. I agree, there’s better art!
Feb 18, 2025 @ 23:06:13
Really so well described…love it!
Feb 20, 2025 @ 15:56:59
Thank you, Ain!
Feb 20, 2025 @ 16:24:51
I really did Lynn, very nice poetry there indeed.
Feb 18, 2025 @ 18:51:06
“we hear coos, chirps, howls, screams
alongside and above us;”
This takes on a different meaning as well, with the story of the artist. I had the same thought, about the blood river. It does look that way. Did we think that before we knew?
Feb 18, 2025 @ 20:17:52
Yes, howls and screams for sure. Honestly, I did think of God turning the Nile into blood but decided to take poem down a different river…