Ekphrasis poetry has been in vogue for the past ten years or so. Though few ekphrastic poems can stand alone in the same way as, say, "Ode to a Grecian Urn", they are pushing out poetic boundaries and entering a territory previously filled by art criticism. In the case of Philip Dacey's latest collection, The Mystery of Max Schmitt, this includes biography as well.
The subject is Thomas Eakins, one of the foremost American painters and a master of the realist school. So sections of the poems ("galleries" one and two) are excursions into Eakins masterpieces like "The Gross Clinic", "Champion Single Sculls", and "Between Rounds". They fill in the background on the paintings, give a few shrewd interpretations, and generally celebrate the artwork. The rest of the book is about Eakins' life, with many of the poems narrated by friends, students and models of the great painter, each imbued with their own persona. A Philadelphia prostitute, for example, begins her monologue with this diatribe:
You artists have the dirtiest minds of all.Most of the poems are long and narrative, but generally contain meter and sometimes rhyme (as in the lines above). Even when Dacey writes in free verse, the lines are too robust to be mistaken for prose. And they do have a tendency to combust, as in these lines narrated by Seymour Adelman, of how a well-meaning friend tragically burned many of Eakins' photos of female nudes after his wife's death:
And then of course they began to rise, the women,Other pieces, such as Talcot Williams' description of Eakins at Walt Whitman's 72nd birthday party, sketch characters and scenes with a photo-realism that Eakins would appreciate. If you are familiar with Eakins, you'll find this book a fitting tribute; and if not, you'll be glad to meet both painter and poet.
- Joel Van Valin