Poetry Friday--'Don't Let That Horse'

Over at my library blog, Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet, I have a post today about ekphrastic poetry--poetry about art. I came across a poem, though, that may or may not be an ekphrastic poem. Is the subject a real painting, or a painting that could have been done by Marc Chagall? I've got the poem below in a screen shot so that you can see the layout. The text is below that.



Don’t Let That Horse...
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Don’t let that horse
eat that violin

cried Chagall’s mother

But he
kept right on
painting

And became famous

And kept on painting
The Horse With Violin In Mouth

And when he finally finished it
he jumped up upon the horse
and rode away
waving the violin

And then with a low bow gave it
to the first naked nude he ran across


And there were no strings
attached

I did a search on "The Horse With Violin In Mouth" and the only hits I got were those quoting Ferlinghetti's poem. Hmmmm. Chagall had many horses in his paintings. He also had many violins. If anyone knows for sure, let me know if there is a real painting called "The Horse With Violin In Mouth."

Here's the closest I came to finding "The Horse With Violin In Mouth," except that this picture is called "The Falling Angel," and I think the horse-like creature with the violin nearly in its mouth might be an ox!

Courtesy Olga's Gallery
Bravo to Ferlinghetti for getting me involved in both his poem AND Chagall's work! There's more to research...

Note: not surprisingly, the poem has been set to music. Click here to listen.

Head over to The Art of Irreverence for the Poetry Friday Round-Up!