Timothy Reed shares poem based on historic Spanish painting

We continue to celebrate National Poetry Month with another faculty offering. Timothy Reed, professor of Spanish, had a poem published in a 2020 issue of The Forum, the official publication of the Phi Sigma Iota International Foreign Language National Honor Society.

His poem, “Las Meninas” (“The Ladies in Waiting”), is based on a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age.

“Las Meninas”

An image of palatial space
regality and artifice
haloed by a subtle glow
a courtly frame of high and low
with rigid aspect, oblong line
fealty, darkness, beauty, shrine
servants, dwarves, lord and guard
waiting ladies, princess, dog
a mirrored royal countenance,
the focal point of reverence.

Baroque perspective draws the eye
from the darkness toward the light
reflecting both in thought and creed
the nascent pulse, the noble plea
to nurture through artistic merit,
the eternal soul in divine spirit.

Posted April 27, 2021 in Faculty.

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