Dürer                   for Dan Keller

In 1520, German artist Albrecht Dürer
saw the first European exhibition ever
held of plundered Aztec objects sent 
by Cortés from Mexico.

 From the new golden land, 
A sun all made of gold,
"A whole fathom wide" 
And a moon all of silver
The same size:
Daystar and its shadow
Sun is mask reflected
On water's surface,
Luna is bell calling
From cistern depths,
      Sol
      Sulphur
      Sal ammoniac,
Water becomes wine

I see gold nuggets
Exhibited just as found,
None larger than a field bean,
And a warrior's feathered helmet
Full of pristine aurum,
Plain and not worked

In the studio
I sketch on vellum
Three views
Of a jouster's steel helm,
Grooves beneath its plumes
Allow blood to flow away

I draw myself 
As the Man of Sorrows,
My torso punctured,
My visage stretched taut
I become an Aztlán sacrifant
Begging alms on Lake of Moon,
In my ears, gold rings set
With turquoises,
And above Tenochtitlán
And Nuremberg--a comet--
Its tail showers sparks
As omen,
Brilliance rises and falls

I hear quetzal bird cry-out
From jungle canopy,
Moctezuma's mantle wove
With its virescent plumage,
Cascades down shoulders
Of rite
My roller's wing equals
Mexica capes,
I capture the jay
In farmer's field,
Outline on parchment
Its universe and ceremony
The paper, skin itself,
Heaves, breathes under
Washes of turquoise pigment,
Lapis and viridian,
The greens of copper ore
Broken open,
And scarlet blood infuses 
Feathers
Where I severed the wing
From the body 
      Oh template
      Oh perimeter
      Oh shadow
      Oh reflection
      Oh highlight
      Oh pattern
      Oh platen
      Oh punctum:
             the tiniest point where eternity dwells

Laura Stickney

images: Moctezuma's headress,  Dürer watercolor, Wing of Blue Roller,
notes: "A whole fathom wide", from Dürer's Notebooks, 
Aurum, Latin word for gold
Man of Sorrows; another name for Christ
Roller, a European blue-jay
punctum, reference from Book of Symbols, Taschen, 2010