• Which of these landscapes intrigues you and why?


• Write a story or poem inspired by one of these pictures. Or, if one of them brings a memory to mind, tell that story.


• Some of these images are made spontaneously while others are carefully staged by the artist. How does this difference in approach affect your response?

beyond the bare minimum
of a receding horizon,
charting the subtraction
of the earth from the sky.
beyond the human figure
suffering and seductive
laying out its reason
in a cradle or a grave.
beyond the light that reads us
although we claim to know it,
seeking our salvation from
a low and vulgar name
what the world was and is
eludes us, like smoke rising
from a flame
and though we'd try to
catch it, and weigh it,
and offer it up to God,
at best it stings our eyes,
and when all our work
is done
would we even recognize
what remains
and call it love?

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