George and I spent a week in northern NSW and southern Queensland over Easter. Among other things, I was hugely taken with a sculpture in Brisbane called Forme del Mito by Arnaldo Pomodoro. It tells the story of Agamemmon from Ancient Greece. Fabricated in cast bronze each piece has its own identity. ‘The Prophet’ Cassandra, ‘The Machine’ Aegisthus, ‘Ambition’ Clytesmnestra and ‘Power’ Agamemnon King of Mycenea. I think it was commissioned for the World Expo that was held in Brisbane in 1988.
It was, presumably, inspired by the gold death mask of Agamemnon, which is displayed in Athens after being found at Mycenae:
Last semester I studied the poetry of the early and middle twentieth century - mostly European, with some American and a very small amount of Australian poetry (the omission of Australian poetry was essentially because of the very late adoption of modernity by Australian poets, compared with the rest of the world). During the course of this (very interesting) subject we had to write poetry as well. This is a bit of an experiment - it will be the first time I have posted any of my creative writing in this blog. One of my poems was inspired by this sculpture. The style owes much to the Russian futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Here's a couple of pictures of the sculpture:
FORME DEL MITO, ARNALDO POMODORO
It’s three o’clock
should you be asleep?
Broken stars collide with bats
so much for sonar
Fruit bats don’t need satellites
actually they do
No, not clouds
not rain
not fog
not plagues
The Milky Way has vanished
That can’t be good
What is the morning?
the colour of twelve
the hunter’s stew
The death mask four ways in a Brisbane square
The dog at the door and
the wolf at the fold
And the colour of twelve
and the water-rat drowning
Where can you get a drink, I’m hot
C Judy Edmonds 2015
