Graham Burchell

BOOKS: VERMEER'S CORNER
FOREWORD

Very little is known about the Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer. Over a period of approximately twenty years the artist produced just thirty six known paintings; some very small (just 8x7 inches) and some of moderate size. The largest of his known works being 63x55 inches. There is some controversy over whether the two smallest paintings are true Vermeers or nineteenth century fakes. One painting ( St Praxedis) is a virtual duplicate of an original 1645 painting of the same name by the Florentine painter, Felice Ficherellian. As such it did not seem to be worthy of a poem, as all of the included poems are aimed at capturing the spirit of Vermeer in different ways. One painting, `The Concert' is currently missing (stolen in 1990), and of all those paintings attributed to Vermeer, only twenty one have legible signatures. The one on `Diana and her Companions' has been worn away during acts of restoration, and not all of the signatures on the others are

FROM THE BOOK:
MILKMAID
The Milkmaid - c.1658 - 60

I was going to do this in an accent
west country English
lots of ooz and arrz as burred
as sharp as blackberry thorns
or night cooled cider from a clay jug
all pickled pronouns and liberties
taken with doing words

dressed like a gert blue tit I be
what d'you wanna be painting I fer
down 'ere with me serving bits
and pieces etcetera

but anyway I am Dutch and
you said you want to do me
with more dignity
there is grace in that simple
quiet act of pouring milk you said
strength in the straight white fall
and angle of my concentration

that makes me feel special
like a priest preparing communion
milk the wine
sincere food of devout thought
bread in a basket bread broken
rough-chin crusts snagging morning light
like chickens shaking rain

and you made this simple room
with its cool harvest tang
with its basket pail foot-warmer
nail-hooks and holes look special
the wall lit as a gargantuan pearl
I wrote it down somewhere yes

opalescent you called it
even painted a thin milk line
down my head and back said
it gives me monumental grandeur
said I was the embodiment
of the spiritual maid
and for all that sir
whatever it means I thank you

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