The difficulty with images

So he floats

Bitter salt and the play of little wavelets against skin.

The problem is that he is not me.

Each time I glance back down I see the picture plane split,

The particular green that swallows the horizon,

A glaze.

What do I mean by poetic? The dictionary defines it as “having an imaginative or sensitively emotional style of expression” and that’s a fine beginning. However I also see it as a juxtaposition of economy and extravagance. Information, both visual and metaphorical, is reduced to only what is needed in order to open the work of art for interpretation. Along with this economy, however, the artist must imbue the work with richness and intensity. This can be performed with an explosion of ornamentation, form, marks, materials or even emptiness. The key is both revelation and mystery, an authenticity not burdened with elucidation.