Observers Talk with the Carnaval Buddha

I crown you Everyman,
Cuban Buddha of the Tank--
your vehicle of wider freedom
or instrument del muerte?

“Not the Catholic and not
the Moor, I am the
Yellow Bread.”

Where have your brothers run
sweet hearts twisted to your use? 
Where are the hairy spiders?
The Creole graves?
The bright windows of the town?

“Mad at Fidel, the Virgen
de la Caridad. She made them fall
into this heaven, this  hell
blistering souls.”

La Reina, enlightened one’s psyche;
Bo palms should be lush
 in land diffuse as leaves
steeped in warm teacup seas.

Old men eye
the gross procession,
squint at golden wheels.  
Through dust, they ask,
“What are we left
 of heaven?”

Judith Van

Arizona State University Art Museum. The Write Connection: Writers writing about Art. April 16, 2005
Reading from, Observers Talk with the Carnaval Buddha.

This was a great project. The museum asked writers to choose
a piece of art from their collections and respond to it. The two works were exhibited together in the upstairs gallery in Spring of 2005.

I chose this mixed media sculpture not only because of it's beauty (which is better appreciated in color), but it's quirky appeal. I read a little bit about Cuba, it's history and relationship with the Buddha. I learned a lot, intuited more, then wrote in free form that morphed into a sort of poem. I originally had no thought to write in the form it took.