{"id":301804,"date":"2025-08-25T12:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=301804"},"modified":"2025-08-23T22:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:51:12","slug":"modiglianis-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/08\/modiglianis-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Modigliani\u2019s Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Elvira, Resting at a Table<\/p><\/div>\n

1.
\nModigliani\u2019s models\u2019 eyes
\nare pupil-less, iris-less,
\n(or, sometimes, one\u2019s inverted,
\nthe other looking not-quite out).<\/p>\n

In bistros, for a song (or less),
\nhe sells his eyes,
\nknows he\u2019s dying (from an early age),
\nbut will not, cannot
\nbow\u2014convention damn him!\u2014
\nto any god except his own
\nidiosyncratic self!<\/p>\n

2.
\nHis first love, sculpture,
\ndid him in\u2014dust,
\ndamn dust, filling his lungs!<\/p>\n

So\u2026 now he models in oil–
\nburly, feminine hermaphrodites,
\ncapturing, perhaps, his own hybridicness–
\nSephardic-Jewish, Tuscan-bred,
\nwith hooded eyes women adore,
\nwhom he loves in kind,
\npainting them with swan-like necks,
\nor bulging like amphoras on couches;
\narched bodies\u2014nude,
\nexcept for what he hides in eyes\u2026.<\/p>\n

(The background\u2019s paneled, dark;
\nThe women curve out of the frame:
\nneck, hips, buttocks, breasts,
\nS-curving into music.)<\/p>\n

In the last two years of thirty-five,
\nhis backgrounds flare\u2014 suffused, light-held.<\/p>\n

Happier with his new mistress now,
\nhe has absorbed
\nImpressionistic fire-licks\u2014
\ntranslucent color, and a sense
\nof his own imminent<\/p>\n

demise
\n(which, he imagines,
\nhe\u2019ll transcend\u2026.)<\/p>\n

3.
\nWith a little money
\nhe would have married that woman
\nwho bore him a son\u2026
\nand killed herself
\nafter he died\u2014<\/p>\n

the day after, in fact,
\nthough she was pregnant
\nagain\u2026.<\/p>\n

________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Gary Steven Corseri\u00a0is a member of the\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0 He is the grandson of Ukrainian-Jewish and Sicilian-Catholic immigrants.\u00a0 Gary has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>PBS<\/span><\/span>-Atlanta and in universities, high schools and Little Theaters.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels, 1 full collection and 1 prize-winning chapbook of poems.\u00a0 His poems, articles, fiction and dramas have appeared in hundreds of global publications & websites, including:\u00a0 <\/i><\/span><\/span>Countercurrents, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>and\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>Transcend Media Service<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 He has taught at universities in the U.S. and Japan, and in US prisons and public schools.\u00a0 He has worked as a grape-picker in Australia, a gas-station attendant, and an editor. Contact:\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span>garyscorseri@gmail.com<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Modigliani\u2019s models\u2019 eyes
\nare pupil-less, iris-less,
\n(or, sometimes, one\u2019s inverted,
\nthe other looking not-quite out).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":301792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[1012,868],"class_list":["post-301804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-for-thought","tag-food-for-thought-editorial-cartoon","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301805,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301804\/revisions\/301805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}