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Winter 2023 • Vol. XLV No. 1 • Poetry |

To Feel the Pull of Life

By Ruben Nusz

Well, it’s a language wrapped in bandages, and when she does speak, she speaks of the untroubled mind and the innocence of trees; up close, the warp and the weft, then afar, the water’s surface mirrors the sun, an allegory, a birth, swaddled in silver; we blink colors into her pictures; we squint into the pale beyond, keen eyes aglow. vanishes and reappears—poof, this magic between dashes; thin armatures penciled and colored faintly, washed-out pinks, grays, faded blues; she spent six years without painting (a quiet space between stanzas). Returning for the sake of color—alighted, we mustn’t segregate the two (color and light), like the tombstones of loving couples; though Agnes was married to solitude, comfortably embraced by mountains (we survey a distance that, when traveled, culminates in more distances despite our having arrived; sometimes, the future involves leaving the world behind, including friends who miss the lonely way you laugh). of quilted blankets, a mist of consciousness, horizons of transcendent lines, colors laid to rest: the desert’s essence, an eternity without rain. After Agnes Martin Afterimages bloom, pulsing silhouetted  ashes—what we see  e silent light shines anew—empty walls and bolts of canvas, a suit

Photo of Ruben Nusz
Ruben Nusz is a painter, writer, and publisher based in the Twin Cities. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center, among others. In addition, his artist books (published by Location Books) are included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and SFMOMA.

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By M.K. Foster

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