October 16, 2022Climate Protesters Throw Soup Over Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’
For hours, I’ve been arguing
with a friend who believes teachers
are on a crusade to make children
use litter boxes when I hear
about sunflowers bathed in soup
to protest the use of fossil fuels.
Last night, I kept picturing
my brother’s gaze before he died,
like he could see the whole
hospital ward melting, wavelengths
collapsing into pinheads
the way time does when you fly
fast enough. I don’t know how
to keep you safe. Turns out
Van Gogh made several paintings
of sunflowers in pale vases,
petals drooping like golden rain,
like he felt he’d missed something.
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget
what the earth makes of our bones,
way down deep in vaults
that never get locked. One day,
there will be no one left to explain
how clay yields yellow ochre
and the hair of wild beasts
can be bristled into brushwork,
how dust can be squeezed into stars.
from Poets Respond