Nick Courtright
Waiting for the River
Happy Birthday
The Painter's Brother
Waiting for the River

 

I want to write a poem about devastation



about when the world you thought you had is not the world



It will include the concerned faces of others



It will include something about nuclear power but I’m not sure how



It will include multiple lawyers and the invoices that come with them



It will include a custody battle because that is the worst  



Maybe it will include a shooting  



We seem to like those



In the end it’s all ephemera



Consciousness is never harmed nor improved by what it knows



The stock market and the universe are the same



We have ever-increasingly sophisticated ways of talking about them though

           they are fundamentally impossible to understand



The graveyard’s full of people we couldn’t do without



The graveyard’s full of people without whom we couldn’t do



Eventually I’ll leave not because I want to but because I have to



So it goes



Here’s my hand



I’ve got king high and all the hope in the world

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Happy Birthday



 

Like leaves the toddler waits to fall

Like seasons the old woman waits to fall

The sun is not a sphere it is a circle

Just look at it



It is already too late

Aging is burying the family cat and eating macaroni and cheese with Dr.             Phil on

This life

You have a puncher’s chance



A blue-boxered puncher pushed against the ropes

Like a neck

So here are the candles

Roman numerals so 31 is just pornography plus one



Make a wish

Blow

When someone dies she or he is just waiting to fall like leaves or seasons

And then has fallen


 
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The Painter’s Brother

  

1.



In Les Noces de Cana by Caliari  

note how Jesus, surrounded by humans  

and their activity, looks desperate to leave.  

Note also how no one is smiling.  

Note again Jesus, how desperate he is to leave.  

“Noces” means wedding so every time  

someone walks by and calls the painting  

“The Last Supper,” it is a reminder.  

A reminder of what? A reminder.  



2.



When you Google “Caliari”

the top result is for a Brazilian MMA fighter.  

She has four victories and one loss.  

Paulo Caliari the painter is also known as  

Paulo Veronese, and this is the largest canvas  

in the Louvre. It shares a room  

with the Mona Lisa, and you can stand  

in front of it writing in a tiny Italian notebook  

for as long as you like. Let us not forget  

that this wedding is where Jesus turned water  

into wine. This is why he’s the star of the show.  



3.



Of the 130 human figures in the piece,  

the artist included himself and some friends,  

as per tradition. In this way it is like poetry.  

Giving depth to Jesus’ appearance  

is that servants offer the wine to the privileged.  

One regards the cup skeptically  

and no one seems to be having any fun.  

One of the aforementioned servants is black.  

Of course, a dwarf holds a parrot.  



4.



The one who holds the wine  

skeptically is wearing the coolest outfit.  

This could be a criticism of wealth and unbelief,  

or praise for the stylish ahead of his time.  

It is said that he is the painter’s brother.

This painting is more than I can handle.  

I could look at this thing all day.  

I’ve seen absurd behavior  

from so many nationalities. If one more person  

calls this The Last Supper I might lose it.  

Jesus is so desperate to leave. 

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