Kazimir Malevich, “Suprematist Composition: White on White” (1918)
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Mayroon na naman akong muling nadiskubreng isang lumang ekphrasis na sinulat ko noong nagsusulat pa ako ng tula sa Ingles. Ang ekphrasis ay tulang pumapaksa sa visual arts o artistic objects. Matagal na pala akong nagsusulat ng ekphrasis, pero nalaman ko lang ang terminong iyan may dalawang taon na ang nakararaan mula sa kapwa makatang Marne Kilates.
Sinulat ko siguro ang sumusunod na soneto noong early Sixties, noong panahong student assistant curator ako ng Ateneo Art Gallery, presidente ng Ateneo Arts Club, at art editor ng Heights, ang literary journal ng Ateneo de Manila University. Kung hindi nagkakamali ang aking senior-citizen memory, hindi pa ito nalalathala
On Malevich’s “White on White”
Of purity almost nothing can be
said with strength. It is quite easy to spit
on rot and curse the harbinger of it,
but the only things to say of the saint are three:
his past until it was bathed suddenly
by a flash in the mind; his struggle as he pits
strength against the abscess to keep lit
the present; and speculations, really
nothing, on his future, where he will stay.
What can you say of purity patched on
purity? There can be no lighted way
firmly pointing to the prepared inn.
You can only paste faith to a silent heart,
marvel at the absence of a wart.
Jose F. Lacaba
