A Strange Awakening of Light that Takes the Place of Dawn
“In the book’s first poem, “For the Painter, Lady Bunny,” Feast describes one of Bunny’s “compositions” and by doing so sets out his aesthetic purpose:
The room draws near to the red beads
of rain on the window. The sun settles
like a rose covered over in snow. Now
the stars that fascinate the blue petals
cannot see you without blinking, nor you
them, Bunny, nor you them. Eyes taut with dew,
tired with looking. Let’s search until it’s true.
Like all good poetry, these lines—written in rough iambic pentameter with a few end rhymes—suggest more than they say. On the surface, the image is of a sunset leading to nightfall. Also, winter is suggested by the reference to snow, and with the ending of light comes an inability to see. The artist, Bunny, is weary of looking, is perhaps approaching the end of her life (Feast does not know how Bunny passed; he says she “possibly” overdosed). Her eyes in this passage may be filled with more than dew; they may be filled with tears. Feast concludes by saying he (and she) will seek until what they find is true—I take this as the mission for the rest of the book.” —Thad Rutkowski, Sensitive Skin, February 2021
