You Are Here
Neil Ellman

Small Pleasures

Guest Writers

Small Pleasures
by Neil Ellman
(after the painting by Wassily Kandinksy)
small smaller smallest
pleasures in a cup of tea
–the future too–
smallish
leaves revel
tiny flowers reveal
such ease
sans consequence–
drink deeply
swallow stars
small pleasures smaller smallest
in an amber jar
 

0 thoughts on “Small Pleasures”

  1. Carnival Cruise Ship (a response poem)
    “Come one, come all”,called Noah
    making a megaphone with his hand
    “For moonshine flows free tonight”,
    he announces to a queuing crowd
    who cheers his undeniable vision
    since provided complimentary cups
    Couples are welcome; everybody in
    settle down; our show’s about to begin
    climb out to the bridge up there
    and see the sights from on-board
    Please sign up for our newsletter
    and stay late for the grand finale
    a gorgeous light show across the sky
    above where, for singular amusement,
    the entire world was made to drown

  2. It’s very good to see some Imagism inspired poetry. I have a whole book on Kandinsky i’ve been meaning to get to. He’s got some impressive art.
    I like the message here on the value of ‘small pleasures’. They add up, don’t they? –And they make life wholly worth while.
    Here’s more on Kandinsky: “Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky /kænˈdɪnski/ (Russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский, Vasilij Vasil’evič Kandinskij, Russian pronunciation: [vaˈsʲilʲɪj kɐnˈdʲinskʲɪj]; 16 December [O.S. 4 December] 1866–13 December 1944) was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession—he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat—he began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.
    In 1896 Kandinsky settled in Munich, studying first at Anton Ažbe’s private school and then at the Academy of Fine Arts. He returned to Moscow in 1914, after the outbreak of World War I. Kandinsky was unsympathetic to the official theories on art in Moscow, and returned to Germany in 1921. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933. He then moved to France where he lived the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939. He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1944.
    Kandinsky’s creation of purely-abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense thought based on his artistic experiences. He called this devotion to inner beauty, fervor of spirit, and spiritual desire inner necessity; it was a central aspect of his art.” [Wikipedia]

Leave a Reply