Georges Seurat, "Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of the Grand Jatte"
As we move into summer vacation, here’s a poem by my father about enjoying the sun. As with many good fables, there are multiple ways to read it, but I see it as a poem about peak experiences, which can include a relaxing day at the beach. During certain moments, we may feel ourselves to be perfect. But for the toad in the poem, every moment appears to be a peak experience:
The Perfect Toad
By Scott Bates
The sun caught the pond
In the second of sky
With its boreas down
And its cumuli dry
Fast asleep
On the edge of the pond
A toad felt the touch
Of a second of sun
He opened his eyes
And raised his head
At this precise moment
I’m perfect he said
He closed his eyes
And destroyed the view
I’m perfect he thought
At this moment too.
The poem reminds me the Nabokov short story “Cloud Castle Lake” (blogged on here) where a character discovers a perfect moment in space and time, which his authoritarian tour group then forces him to leave. But should we be that reliant upon space and time? Wordsworth, in his “Intimations” ode, claims that “heaven lies all about us in our infancy,” and in “Nature” Ralph Waldo Emerson says we shouldn’t be dependent on summer and sun to feel at one with our surroundings:
Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. . . Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. Almost I fear to think how glad I am.
So snow or sun, rain or shine, eyes open or shut, we should make it our goal to be fully in the moment.
4 Comments
I always enjoy reading your dad’s poetry, Robin. And I love the quote by Emerson. I’m pondering…
If ever in Chicago, going to the art institute and viewing “Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of the Grand Jatte” is a must. The painting will surprise you.
I love that museum, Sean. And the absolute stillness of the Seurat painting. Also, as I recall, they have a fabulous Manet painting involving “flaneurs.” And a portrait of the young Jean Renoir, who would grow up to become my favorite film director.
Good Morning Mr. Bates,
this is a magnificent post about appreciation. Love the poem very much… Thank you…
Good Day-