The Art that Fails

Poetry
Written By Jane Zwart

I also love the art that fails. I love
the Shakespearean extra, doublet inset
with satin flames, loafing stage left

like an abject caddy. I love the glacier
painted out of its majesty, tamed
by careful shading, its ice become a blanket

hiding a child. I love the little sward
in the atlas, the turf at the pole
where the astronomer stands, aligning

overly cooperative stars. I love the waif
penciled into the faux finish,
gainsaying the wood-grain—that is,

the curlicue under the stain subtly
debunking the oak’s burl. And the cut-purse
weaving Cruyff turns on the police procedural—

I cannot help it: I love him, too.

 
Jane Zwart

Jane Zwart teaches literature and writing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, where she also co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Her poems have previously appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry, Rattle, Boston Review, Ploughshares, The Poetry Review (UK), Threepenny Review, MARGIE, and North American Review--as well as elsewhere. She has also published edited versions of onstage interviews with Christian Wiman, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Zadie Smith.

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