Vir Heroicus Sublimis

After Barnett Newman

Forget meaning for the Greeks
or cathedrals conceived as such;
where zips are light beams of mortals.
goes on till colour has nothing to fall upon.
Some would see ‘blue’ here.
the image gets flipped & thrown
No conjurer in the occipital lobe
So much beyond the visible
like seeing only a single strip
& Christ the man or Christ who is God
witness one field of consciousness
Perhaps heaven is like this & colour
Ask yourself about ‘red’ & qualia.
When we perceive a magic trick takes place:
& appears on the back of the brain.
or ghost in the machine, no homunculus.
surrounds the frame & yet so little
when gazing across the Mississippi River.


Patrick Wright (Twitter: @saturnineone Email: patrickwright79@hotmail.com) has a poetry collection, Full Sight Of Her, published by Eyewear Publishing (2020). He has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the Open University. He is also currently finishing a PhD in Creative Writing, on the ekphrasis of modern and contemporary art, supervised by Jane Yeh and Siobhan Campbell. His favourite sweet is a fizzy cola bottle.

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