The Air is a Root

Jean Arp 1886 (Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine) – 1966 (Basel, Canton of Basel-Stadt)



The air is a root.
The stones are filled with tenderness. bravo.
bravo. the stones are filled with air.
the stones are watery branches.
on the stones replacing the mouth
grows the skeleton of a leaf. bravo.
A stone voice face to face and foot to foot
with a stone glance.
the stones are tormented like flesh
the stones are clouds for their second
nature dances to them on their third nose.
bravo. bravo.
when the stones scratch themselves, nails grow
on the roots. bravo. bravo.
the stones woke to eat the exact
hour

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

28 sec read
96

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEBFGHIJBBBKL
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 509
Words 96
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

Jean Arp

Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter, and poet, and worked in other media such as torn and pasted paper. He was known as Dadaist and abstract artist.  more…

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