Rough Sea at a Jetty, 1650s - Jacob van Ruisdael, Dutch
Herman Sutter
April 9, 2023
What is it the painter discovers
when dabs of white
brushed over strokes of gray become
bursting spray —swelling waves?
When whirls of blue gather
the grays, becoming
not oil and pigment dried stiff
not imaginings
but actualities;
storm dark clouds
descending
to the white-tipped sea?
Is it a kind of truth shaped
by color, craft and accident?
Or just a lie the eye believes
because it seems to be?
Who was it first discovered
how to tell such lies?
How did it come to be
that to say a thing in such a way
would make it true?
Herman Sutter (award-winning poet/essayist) is the author of Stations (Wiseblood Books), and The World Before Grace (Wings Press), and “The Sorrowful Mystery of Racism,” St. Anthony Messenger. His writing has appeared in: The Perch (Yale University), The Langdon Review, Cider Press Review, Iris, The Ekphrastic Review, Benedict XVI Institute, as well as the anthologies: Texas Poetry Calendar (2021) & By the Light of a Neon Moon (Madville Press, 2019). Recipient of the 2021 Best Essay award from the Catholic Media Association, the Innisfree Prize for poetry, Sutter has also been honored by the Texas Playwrights Festival for his poem for voices: The World Before Grace. His recent manuscript A Theology of Need was long-listed for the Sexton prize.
