egg tempera


(i)

Albert Durer
painted himself
as the big egg
in the year 1500

and it was
miraculous

nobody
who lived before him
or after him

has ever been
a bigger egg.

(ii)

after Ernst Kirchner
had finished adding
a very successful pink rectangle
to the top right hand corner
of the painting
he was working on that morning

he felt
like the pale yellow
of scrambled eggs.

(iii)

a thin art student
who was dissatisfied
with his inability to paint like van Gogh
cooked 50 eggs
to share with his fellow art students
at lunch time

afterwards
they were all very full
and didn’t feel like doing
any painting.



Published in Takahe 79, Winter 2013.