How My Art Inspired Water, a Poem by Jeremy Gadd Published in the Brussels Review
I was recently honored to learn that *Impressions of a Turner Landscape* inspired a poem by Jeremy Gadd, an internationally recognized and published poet. Jeremy, who has long been admired for his evocative verse, found a deep connection with the abstraction and emotional resonance in my work. His poem, Water, reflecting these themes, has now been published in the *Brussels Review*.
The *Brussels Review* is an esteemed international literary journal known for publishing works that push boundaries in poetry, fiction, and essays. It’s a platform that regularly features both emerging and established writers, offering a wide readership and critical acclaim to its contributors. The publication of Jeremy's poem in this respected journal adds another layer of meaning to the work, reflecting the shared dialogue between visual art and literature.
Water
(Written after viewing artist Ralph Kerle’s Impressions of a Turner Landscape)
Shapeless but capable of all shapes,
water wraps the world in a liquid embrace,
shape shifts to vapour or to ice,
creating rain or holding vessels like a vice.
Water emerged from a Hadean world,
when Creation’s breath gently blew
and cooled the surface of the seas
creating ripples, waves, tsunamis.
We are one with water:
mainly fluid, our cellular ancestors
emerged wet onto the land before
growing limbs upon the sand.
As essential to life as air,
water is adaptable, flexible;
finding routes of least resistance
it travels daunting distances to be free
and water symbolizes purity: souls are
ritually shrived from sanctified bowls and,
more prosaically, we wash in water and
luxuriate in baths to sooth sore muscles.
Water sends us messages within its
dark whirlpools and eddies of darkness;
its turbulent corkscrews, tormented
like distressed states of mind.
But is anything actually what it seems?
Like the artist, manipulating what we see,
there is the possibility water crystals
can change shape dynamically
and, if exposed to pleasant music,
positive words or even thoughts, water crystals
will be perfectly formed but, if subjected to
negative energy, are ugly or deformed.
Whether true or false, one thing is certain,
fouling sources of fresh water and treating
the sea as a pigsty will be the final curtain.
Without clean water all life dies.
