Poem by Bert Leston Taylor

Post-Impressionism

(Lines  written after viewing  Mr Arthur Dove's
exposition of the "Simultaneousness of the Ambient")

I cannot tell you how I love
    The canvases of Mr Dove,
Which Saturday I went to see
    In Mr Thurber's gallery.

At first you fancy they are built
    As patterns for a crazy-quilt,
But soon you see that they express
    An ambient simultaneousness.

This thing which you would almost bet
    Portrays a Spanish omelette,
Depicts instead, with wondrous skill,
    A horse and cart upon a hill.

Now, Mr Dove has too much art
    To show the horse or show the cart;
Instead he paints the creak and strain,
    Get it?  No pike is half so plain.

This thing which would appear to show
    A fancy vest scenario,
Is really quite another thing --
    A flock of pigeons on the wing.

But Mr Dove is much too keen
    To let a single bird be seen;
To show the pigeons would not do,
    And so he simply paints the coo.

It's all as simple as can be;
    He paints the things you cannot see.
Just as composers please the ear
    With programme things you cannot hear.

Dove is the cleverest of chaps;
    And, gazing at his rhythmic maps,
I wondered (and I'm wondering yet)
    Whether he did them on a bet.

Arthur Dove (1880 - 1946) was an American artist 
who was one of the earliest nonobjective artists.

1. The Riddle of the Dinosaur
2. To the Proof Room
3. Canopus
4. Gentle Doctor Brown
5. The Lazy Writer

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