The Absence of Wavelength

Death By Telegram

"Note: *Music1* Guess what's back? Back again..."

In a sitting room, a desk-like tomb adorned by
a pretty blue ribbon that clasps, but cannot capture,
or preserve, words so elusive, rare, free --
and with one telegram, burned down.

You would abruptly end our affair, no longer care.
Black heartache clutched, with six silver messengers.

Chaos now, these Viennese letters' outpouring, endless
ramblings with comparisons of beauty fair to me, ends.
Our fading Summer days, deep into fall, head to harsh winter.

In perfect waste, a white dress, stained this night,
with silver confessions ringing -- that singe red passages
channeling a ruptured soul. Pearl and Safire, a dull gleam,
on the, as yet, idle finger.

Hollow satchels did not deliver Truth, but a terse telegram
that you will not leave her. Words spit flat sentences...stop...stop

the desire of stolen kisses on shaded walks,
nuzzling a tender neck. Romantic visions stroll art galleries,
a moon-lit carriage ride, dinner at the hideaway, our Danube gently coasting.

In this mausoleum, one red candle nearly out of wick,
sent so low. Hope flickers in a chill, after your telegram.


20 lines
free verse
9.21.21

Research:

Wien = Vienna, localized. Viennese letters

The middle finger, on which the four gem ring is worn, is thought to represent responsibility, balance and soul-searching, while its associated gemstones are coral, aquamarine and rose quartz which are all meant to have soothing properties.

One commenter on photo: Well, it was 1894 so it could've been painted in the Romantic sense, and Romanticism focuses a lot on intense emotions and natural impulses, so a girl who just received bad news on a telegram and then reaching for a gun is an expression of her intense emotion(grief) causing an impulse.


To surmise what this all means:
The telegraph was a faster method of conveying a message. the delivery system still had its delays. Handwritten letters, more personal, could be written on every whim, like poetry, lovingly laboring over her, day after day, like waves on the beach, a tide nipping at her toes, until one telegram could deliver words spoken to end a relationship, the end of a romance that began with a quill like a quiver in the heart, pouring blood like ink on the page.


More details found:
19th Century Desperate Detail Historical History Italian Italy Louise Max Ehrler News Painting Pistol Ring Sadness Telegram Woman Young

The representation of painters at Prague exhibitions was still quite exceptional at the end of the 19th century. The main problem for women was to get an official education and even then it was difficult for them to continue their careers on their own. Louisa Ehrlerová lived in Prague from 1864, later she married the painter Heinrich Max and thus became the sister-in-law of the famous painter Gabriel Max. The art of both brothers influenced her, in her paintings we find the same figures: saints, Madonnas or women in a tense life situation, such as in the painting Telegram, purchased from the exhibition Krasoumné jednoty in Rudolfinum in 1895.

Another poem written to an art prompt:

"Dear Ida (for KiyaSama) (no longer displayed here)"