Henri Rousseau

                                                                                        Artist: Henri Rousseau

Image: Rousseau's The Walk in the Forest

(c. 1886), oil on canvas

The singer not the song

The creator not the creation

The inclination for an illustration

He chose art as a medium of expression
There had to be a start so he believed

He provoked his mind with no hesitation
despite having reached his early forties

"Nothing makes me so happy 

to observe nature and to paint what I see, 

so said he"

He picked a theme to have it done
It would trigger off the process
otherwise he would be stumped

if not aware of the progress

There had to be a likely starting point
It just could not be explained
Once it got off the ground
it went off smoothly insane 

Great masterpiece creations revealed

What of fronting a waterfall some deer

Woman's walk in the forest as billed

What of it of a crouching tiger

and a rabbit nearby stayed so still

It was wriggling in his head
Brilliance of something psychedelic
all colourful a kaleidoscopic spread
Once the cobwebs cleared and a good pick
enveloped over, it was plain to see 

amidst lots of jungle greenery 

It could be so hopelessly an excuse

Being self-taught what it did to his mind
would have dampened his creative juices

but all naturally expounded as designed 

He took it within his stride 

It had happened many times like this

through the hazardous hazards 

of a Post- impressionist artist

Melissa Lemay in d'Verse Poetics

Launch: light and truth of painting