Poetry Friday is hosted today by Amy at The Poem Farm.
My father, John Gibson, created this drawing using pointillism. He creates a different image each Christmas for my parents’ Holiday greeting card.
The Pointillist
Patiently sitting at the drawing table,
he taps the paper as if strumming an instrument.
The music he creates comes forth
not in lines and shapes, but in shades
of dark and light.This artist does not draw or paint.
He plays the dots, drumming them out
point by point.
What emerges is nothing short of miraculous,
like the first moving pixel on the television screen.I marvel at the realism.
I could reach out and touch the cow.
The bed of straw even smells like a barn.
He places me there, at the birth scene,
waiting with Mary.–Margaret Simon
The Pointillist is an ekphrastic poem, a poem about art. More about this style of poetry can be found at Poets.org.
Oh, my, I love these lines:
He plays the dots, drumming them out
point by point.
I’m imagining a room, quiet, punctuated by soft tapping; then a pause, perhaps a sigh, more tapping. The “…shades / of light and dark” taking form in gentle waves of sound, as if your father was trying to read the music in the dark.
Thanks!!
I love your words about imagining the room. I may have to revise my poem to include this image. Thanks for reading!
Welcome to Poetry Friday, Margaret! What a lovely card your father made– and how wonderful to have a poem by you to go with it!
What a creative artist, your father, Margaret, & beautiful tradition. Pointillism is no easy feat! I love your musical analogy, connected up to the visual, & this line “the first moving pixel on the television screen.” I’m so glad you arrived here on Poetry Friday!
Wow! What an amazing piece of art and such a lovely poem to honor it. Thank you for introducing me to pointillism.
So beautiful, Margaret…both of your offerings. I hope you will tuck your honoring poem with this card somewhere, for generations to enjoy. What treasures. It’s so good to have you here for Poetry Friday…welcome! a.