To Be or Not, a Complement

The Reverie of Mr. James, by Rene Magritte (Belgium) 1943

Regret masters Réne Magritte.
analysis he would reject;
the boy’s lost mother, suicide –
Régina, queen, face-covered, drowned –
all blamed each other’s escapades.

To cap it all, she milliner,
devoted as a Catholic,
yet father anticlerical.
For roses, thorns go hand in hand
in wispy, wristy floral tryst.

An egg, drawn bird with outstretched wings,
to liquidate conventional;
the mirror glass that sees behind,
or handiwork for trellis growth –
so many questions framed for us.

His meet to marry, seven years,
that butcher’s daughter at the fair,
the girl Georgette his later muse,
for first exhibits, critics rose,
but piled abuse served, moved him on.

The Rêverie, entitled dream,
but did our Monsieur James think so?
And would he care, or others dare?
He did not look outside the box –
denied the box was ever there.

Through periods, and phases, styles,
the occupation, war, mind more,
those forgeries of headline names
and currency in leaner years,
but were notes printed cash for real?

Try Ceci n’est pas, for a line,
the pipe as concrete through the gap
to what stand painted, poster pen,
when artist seen and not the thing;
surrealist in play along.

His oeuvre, time and time again,
by repetition, trauma marked,
but each unique though looked the same
for image seen not image been,
a complement in every scene.

Published by The Ekphrastic Review, 5th April 2024

https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-challenges/rene-magritte-ekphrastic-writing-responses