VAN GOGH’S

VIEW

OF

THE STARRY NIGHT

THROUGH

THE IRON-BARRED WINDOW

IN

THE ASYLUM

by Dr. Mel Waldman  

.

Van Gogh

sits

in

his Lilliputian room of madness

unblessed

in

the

Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint Rémy

celestial

monastery of yesterday

&

through the iron-barred window

facing

east

he

gazes at the stars sketching The Starry Night & other beauties again & again

transforming

the

beast within

&

transcending mortal suffering

If

only we could tell him who he really is

his

only sin not seeing his beautiful divinity

&

so Van Gogh

gazes

at the stars

&

shall paint The Starry Night in the studio below

with

the cypress tree & Venus to its right

embracing

death oblivious of the post-mortem destiny

that

waits everlastingly for him 

Dr. Mel Waldman is a psychologist, poet, and writer whose stories have appeared in numerous magazines including HARDBOILED DETECTIVE, ESPIONAGE, THE SAINT, PULP METAL MAGAZINE, and AUDIENCE. His poems have been widely published in magazines and books including A NEW ULSTER, CLOCKWISE CAT, CRAB FAT LITERARY MAGAZINE, ESKIMO PIE, INDIANA VOICE JOURNAL, LIQUID IMAGINATION, THE BROOKLYN LITERARY REVIEW, BRICKPLIGHT, SKIVE MAGAZINE, 

ODDBALL MAGAZINE, PABLO LENNIS, POETRY PACIFIC, POETICA, RED FEZ, SQUAWK BACK, SWEET ANNIE & SWEET PEA REVIEW, THE JEWISH LITERARY JOURNAL, THE JEWISH PRESS, THE JERUSALEM POST, HOTMETAL PRESS, MAD SWIRL, HAGGARD & HALLOO, ASCENT ASPIRATIONS, YELLOW MAMA, THE BITCHIN’ KITSCH, SOUL-LIT, TWO DROPS OF INK, and NAMASTE FIJI: THE INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY. A past winner of the literary GRADIVA AWARD in Psychoanalysis, he was nominated for a PUSHCART PRIZE in literature and is the author of 11 books. 

KJ Hannah Greenberg has been playing with words and images for an awfully long time. Check out her poetry and art book, One-Handed Pianist (Hekate Publishing, 2021).