PLANET ŒUVRE

Now, I’d like to direct your attention to a new piece.

Planet Oeuvre.

An experimental piece by Ménage,

Framed in a gallery of infinite walls,
The first planet hung in spotlight.

As Mr. Menage took the stage,
continent-sized, purple and blue,
opulent curtains pulled back.
Warm yellow light illuminated the planet,
casting a mythical shadow behind him.

“Thank you. Today we introduce a new chapter of art history. Architecture, biology, terraformation, technology, art—even sociology—have converged to create my magnum opus.

The herald of terrawrights to come-
And mourner of those who never did.

Those symphonies before ivory keys,

Mona Lisas before acrylic,

Homers before parchment.

I believe their spirits will live in Planet Oeuvre—
A canvas for spirits unvoiced.”

Nuclear telescopes,
forged from gold and diamond,
Tilted toward the piece.
and for the first time,

Planet Oeuvre,

is seen.

At its base, flora and fauna flourish alike,
Growing into a velvet pedestal.
Beautiful lakes form diamond shapes;
fish leap in synchronicity.
The sky, a deep orange,
piercing perfect clouds.

The weight of elegance bows its torso,
Where dead weeping willows reach out to the stratosphere,
Crooked down, staring,
Gazing at the beauty they never saw while living.
And so they remain:

dead, weeping, limbs.
An overhang,
of ghosts.

As the spotlight shifted to shine on the planet’s crown,
An extra-dimensional object—
A shape that cast no shadow,
Yet bends all the warm light in.

An object knotting time into a tapestry of ungraspable moments,
Compacting timelines in its density,
A shape that transcends concepts of shapes,
And simply is.

A symbol of all that comes next.

Oeuvre.