Down at the bottom of the deep black sea
Your naked body is waiting for me
Beneath a halo of underwater light
Reflecting red stars of madness
In your eyes, in my eyes...
And in the future there will be no one
And all the water will turn to stone
And in the desert where your memory lies
I'll kiss your shadow in the sand
Beneath the cold, blue, starlight...
Michael Gira
JH Engstrom
The 2013 painting The Dream of Sappho, as a depiction of a state of creative being, is extraordinary. We see the poetess, her head turned away from the viewer, her eyes closed, and from the crown of her head a headdress of corals and pearls springs. Veiled, unreachable, the poetess dreams, her creative energy pushing its way through the bone limits of her skull, bringing new thoughts, new poetry into being, and transmuting her life force into the blood-formed corals and pearls of her poetry.
