.
"Baptistère de Saint-Louis", Mamluk (Syrian or Egyptian), late 13th/early 14th c., (detail): photo by Fabos, 2005 (Musée du Louvre)
Load every rift with ore,
Keats's admonition to Shelley,
ignores the dangers of the horror
vacui. There are so many rifts. Will he
somehow fill them all? And what
about emphasis? Should not something
central be allowed to dominate?
No, there is no center. Nothing
but marks in space, in every
empty space a mark, here a mark,
there a mark. It's that all-over-y
feeling: no flowers, just park, park, park.
Keats's admonition to Shelley,
ignores the dangers of the horror
vacui. There are so many rifts. Will he
somehow fill them all? And what
about emphasis? Should not something
central be allowed to dominate?
No, there is no center. Nothing
but marks in space, in every
empty space a mark, here a mark,
there a mark. It's that all-over-y
feeling: no flowers, just park, park, park.
Battle Scene, Safavid Dynasty, Iran: Mahmud Musawwir, 1525-1550 AD.: image by Cordanrad, 2007 (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C.)