I”ve been taken in by Paul Gauguin
and all this time
I thought of him,
as a man who looked like Anthony Quinn
and painted natives
at Eden’s door
Who found his place
with a brown-skinned whore
and papayas
and watermelons
and wide green leaves.
I must admit, I hung up his print
of a woman’s tit
Just to look at it.
I should have thought
before I bought,
Where is the ought?
Why am I fooled by people like this?
What did I miss? What is he for?
Why not other paintings of so many more?
Is it art when far you go?
Is it a matter of whom you know?
Is it only crazy when it’s Van Gogh?
How could he have missed the puffery
and the stuffery
The blunders and the wonders
The gold-train trails
The pirate jails
The posing and proposing
and the things that need exposing?
What about you old timer?
Did you know Paul Gauguin?
They say he came to Panama
What did you think of him?
(Old timer to interviewer)
Well, you can put this on his stone
if you want a simple verse,
We had some big loafers but
he was the worst.
He didn’t paint the dying,
He didn’t paint the Trench
He left his shovel on the beach
and gave up on the French.
He tried to paint the natives
who worked out in the sun.
They wouldn’t pick him coconuts
and would not pose for fun.
(Another old timer)
We used to yell at him,
“Don’t piss in our lagoon
ya big baboon.”
Hey, this man’s famous,
I don’t understand.
You have to have a big beach and plenty of sand.
You should be proud of what this painter could do.
You could have been in the pictures,
What’s the matter with you?
(A fellow worker)
Read the record, ask the people,
check all who did the work
You will find plenty who’ll tell you the guy was a jerk --
A sham, and a ham, and a shocking summation
of a lazy young man who brought shame to his nation
But they’re proud of him now, and we should be too.
Where was his home for the tourist to view?
(First old timer)
How long do you have, mister? How open are you
To the truth of this country and this man we once knew.
There is only one reason to make such a fuss.
Paul Gauguin was the big problem that happened to us.
Remember this when you give him glory,
This man you praise missed the epoch’s real story.
The place for all things and the grand center stage
should have been known as the Panama age.
(Another worker)
Shame, shame on this man who has such a known name
We knew he was a fake the moment he came.
Think of a painter who cannot paint
If you want a true artist
This painter ain’t.
Can you stand on land where
Two continents meet?
Can you see such a thing and still keep your feet?
Can you see shaking of hands by the North and the South?
Two oceans that were destined
to kiss at the mouth?
the place of all places for the artist’s grand brush,
And he went to Tahiti to be a big lush.
For his stay in our country
we gave him the lock,
‘cuz the key to Panama
we know he would hock.
The people of Panama knew it was all true
and Gauguin had the chance to give it to you.
To think of his paintings on a Panama list
is to see the features that this artist missed:
An altar all covered with nothing but gold,
Beautiful polleras, from Spain I am told,
Proud Kuna women in colorful gown
gracing the streets of a Panama town,
fishing boats flouncing on waves off the shore
and faded carvings on an elegant door,
The infusion of foreigners who cut in the ground,
who blew up the hillside with a terrible sound,
The greatest of schemes and so many dreams
and one scoundrel after another it seems.
So many great strengths became part of this land
and emerged as the overall victor at hand.
What a face could be painted what lines one could score
if there was just one to paint what all could adore.
That was Paul’s Problem, and Panama’s too.
People back then had their own point of view.
“It was just not the time for an art that is new.
Too noisy, too exciting with colors to rich,
and who wants to look at people digging that ditch?”
Better a dream that did not exist,
a trip to Tahiti, put that on your list:
A native that’s happy and the color of brown,
one same colored country and every melon in town,
one pretty hibiscus and a barebreasted view.
How peaceful, how calming, and present it as true.
“Who painted these pictures?” the public will ask.
“Paul Gauguin”, they will say,
“His artwork will last.”
Also in this section:
Sparky the Wonder Dog
Kuna words coloring book
Poetry, Gauguin in Panama
