\nI’ll move like cautious sunlight, open
\nthe door by fractions, eavesdrop
\npeacefully.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Denise Leverov<\/strong><\/p>\n
In these few days at the end of mid-week March, the Detroit Institute of Arts opens its exhibit, \u201cDiego Rivera\/Frida Kahlo In Detroit.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s time, I\u2019m thinking, to go down to the DIA and renew kinship with these tempestuous lovers and artists who lived the year of 1932-33 on Kirby and Woodward, right next to the museum. \u00a0Rivera and his team worked all year to transform precise mural geometry into the pulsing faces and colors that are the “Industry in Detroit” murals. \u00a0Kahlo, less famous then, tended a painter\u2019s genius that would later shake the world of art. \u00a0They fought too, divorced once, married twice. \u201cI love you more than my own skin,\u201d Frida wrote once during their long dance of betrayals and outrage and astonishing renewals of intimacy, over and over.<\/p>\n
The DIA created an earlier Diego Rivera exhibit, pairing his perception of Detroit industry with the more cerebral landscapes of Charles Sheeler (“The Rouge: The image of Industry in the Art of Charles Sheeler and Diego Rivera\u201d DIA 1978). \u00a0It\u2019s pretty thrilling to find Detroit’s world class museum returning to its most important painter with a fresh interpretation. \u00a0 I\u2019m going down Saturday to listen to\u00a0Linda Bank Downs\u2019 lecture:\u00a0\u201cDiego Rivera\u2019s Wife\/Frida Kahlo\u2019s Husband: A Question of Popularity\u201d at 2:00 pm.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s anticipation of time with the exhibit, perhaps it\u2019s this week’s unobtrusive melting of snow and ice by tiny stages. \u00a0No matter the reason, Denise Levertov’s poem about shy and delicate entries into private human mysteries seems like good counsel when the city invites the world to eavesdrop on these two genius painters and intense lovers.<\/p>\n Have a great weekend.\u00a0 Weather.com<\/a>\u00a0says cloudy tomorrow, sunny on Sunday, warm both days.<\/p>\n Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n john sj<\/p>\n Aware When I opened the door “Aware” by Denise Levertov, from\u00a0This Great Unknowing<\/em>. \u00a9 New Directions Publishing, 1999. Reprinted with permission.<\/p>\n Friday March 13 “Next time I’ll move like cautious sunlight, open the door by fractions, eavesdrop peacefully.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Denise Leverov In these few days at the end of mid-week March, the Detroit Institute of Arts opens its exhibit, \u201cDiego Rivera\/Frida … Continue reading ![\"Rivera-Kahlo\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/03\/Rivera-Kahlo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>by\u00a0Denise Levertov<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI found the vine leaves
\nspeaking among themselves in abundant
\nwhispers.
\nMy presence made them
\nhush their green breath,
\nembarrassed, the way
\nhumans stand up, buttoning their jackets,
\nacting as if they were leaving anyway, as if
\nthe conversation had ended
\njust before you arrived.
\nI liked
\nthe glimpse I had, though,
\nof their obscure
\ngestures. I liked the sound
\nof such private voices. Next time
\nI’ll move like cautious sunlight, open
\nthe door by fractions, eavesdrop
\npeacefully.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"