Work of Art

From our art columnist, Jarvis MacKinnon III:

In late August, members of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts (DOPE) visited Glenstone, a private contemporary art museum about 15 miles from downtown Washington, D.C., iin Potomac, Maryland.  We had not been there before, so we were excited to see the place -- it is a perfect mix of architecture, contemporary art (all from after World War II), nature, and zen. It was quite the experience -- and if you ever get the chance to visit, do so!

Glenstone's website is HERE, and more on the museum can be found HERE. 

​Photography was not allowed inside – so we took the exterior shots below on the left; however, the interior shots (below on the right) are from the museum’s Instagram account.

To view Glenstone's Instagram account, click HERE. 

In response to our visit, we offer Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "There's a certain Slant of Art" (below on the left).  Dickinson was a true Libran (his birthday is October 12), so he always liked things symmetrical and even, and the "Look of Descent" of a crooked picture hanging on the wall would drive him crazy!  Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "There's a certain Slant of light" (below on the right).
​

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

There’s a certain Slant of Art
On Museum Walls –
In Parlors – or Foyers –
Or sloping in Great Halls –
 
That peeves the Eye of Detail –
A Point of View with
Intolerable imbalance –
Like stripes on plaid –
 
Unheavenly Angle – like the bubble
Of the Carpenter’s Level
Descending to a lower plane –
Diagonality – of the Devil –
 
None may reach it – Any –
‘Tis the Tilt of Despair –
Disconcerting Declivity
Soliciting Repair –
 
When it dips, the Landscape lists –
And I am inclined – bent –
On righting the pitched frame’s
Look of Descent –

By Emily Dickinson:

There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –
 
Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are –
 
None may teach it – Any –
‘Tis the Seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –
 
When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, ‘tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –

Other nearby sites:  Over the same weekend, we also visited Great Falls National Park in Virginia (below on the left), and the Chesapeake & Ohio (C & O) Canal National Park in Maryland (below on the right):