I'm really grateful to Anthony King at The Kenyon Review for a) coming up with a resoundingly smart and engaging set of questions for me in response to STILL LIFE WITH OYSTERS AND LEMON, and b) persisting for months in asking me to answer them, long after most people would have given up.
The result is a beautifully presented interview, complete with terrific images of de Heem's paintings. The Munich still life I talk about in the text is here -- the one with the crucifix and skull. The original is quite large (say three x three, maybe four x three) and the background is blacker than in appears here. It's not easy to find an image of this turbulent, strange painting, which I am pretty sure I have more to say about, and I'm thrilled it's here.
Here's a toast to editorial persistence, and thanks again to A.D. King. You can see what I mean at
The Lessons of Objects: An Interview with Mark Doty.
2 comments:
i just read this today. because it came up as a question in quizup, and i was always curious about still life after neruda talks about tomatoes so; and despite some believable reviews at goodreads i was totally moved and touched by your account. esp loved the references to cavafy. and i havent even read your poetry!
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