Monday, May 4, 2026

Guernica at the Prado by Jack D. Harvey

Mural del 'Guernica' de Picasso - Guernica, Spain


Guernica at the Prado

For a year or more

I looked and looked at it,

in my soul,

lived under the spell

of Picasso's baleful

grey and black fandango

of a bombed town,

a farrago of agonies

of bull and horse,

parts of people

caught and displayed

in sharp outline;

then it became too fine,

too perfect in its kind,

too much to take

and I had to turn away,

turn my mind and eye,

try to isolate and

banish the pieces,

try to burn away the vision

of that monstrous canvas,

bury a pretense, a practice,

a sacrifice of time;

none of it worked.

Never forgotten,

that huge ghastly swipe

of paint haunts me still,

hurts me and will

until the end of its world,

ending as it did,

and the end of mine.   


(First published in Scarlet Leaf.)


© Jack D. Harvey


Jack D. Harvey

Jack D. Harvey’s poetry has appeared in Scrivener, The Comstock ReviewValparaiso Poetry ReviewTypishly Literary MagazineThe Antioch ReviewThe Piedmont Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. The author has been a Pushcart nominee and has been published in a few anthologies over the years.

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Guernica at the Prado by Jack D. Harvey

Mural del 'Guernica' de Picasso - Guernica, Spain Guernica at the Prado For a year or more I looked and looked at it, in my soul, li...