Goya's Child (Children of Munch) (poem) by Ian Irvine (Hobson) on AuthorsDen

Goya's Child (Children of Munch)
by Ian Irvine (Hobson) → (All Poetry by Ian Irvine (Hobson))
Monday, September 24, 2018 Rated "G" by the Author.

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Goya's child (1) - 1991-93 was, in part, inspired by the paintings of Goya. But other painters also influenced the band's music - e.g. Munch, Ernst, Kahlo, Chirico, Picabia, Duchamp, Grosz and other Modernist artists. If you rolled into the Victorian city of Bendigo late at night between 1991 and 1993, and walked the streets of the town centre, it is very likely that you would have heard, off in the distance, the melodic strains - or perhaps the bass and drums rumble - of one of our songs ... Dedicated to Liam Thorpe and James Mannix - former Goya�s Child band members. May they Rest in Peace. Poem copyright Ian Irvine (Hobson) 2018, all rights reserved. Painting: Melancholy, 1894 by Edvard Munch. [Image is in the public domain].

Goya was bleak enough - intuitively Expressionistic, but no modern techniques beyond Baroque turbulence and Realist starkness to guide each paint-heavy stroke. In the cavernous factory of art, at midnight, in freezing temperatures, we hymned the Spanish master ... his Black Paintings. His visions of war and unvarnished truths. His hung men and dismembered soldiers. His witches and demons and uncanny animals. His maimed peasants in hellish sanatoriums. But Munch was also with us: In the quivering lips of a dying girl-child. In the cavernous faces of grieving loved ones. In the eyes of walkers on melancholy streets, their smart, black clothes, but brooding like zombies. It was all about The Scream - air sucked abruptly from grief-compressed lungs. Our childhood dreams of wholeness crushed by urban living, bourgeois conformity - all the stifling manners and conventions of industrial Progress ... A labyrinth of streets ... a long and winding curve ... lava-red sunsets and vampire girls with long dark hair that cut our skin like razor wire. Though we called ourselves Goya's Child, we were also Children of Munch, and therefore Apostles of Strindberg, Artaud and Ernst, and maybe Pollock and Rothko ... splashing melodies and time-heavy words, across white-washed walls in the cavernous factory of art … at midnight … at 1am … at 2am - courting the chthonic Muse under slaughterhouse paintings coloured red/brown/black. As the city drifted into sleep we sang and we played. Under cathedral spires wreathed in mist, we sang and we played. Above dank tunnels, thick with ghosts we sang and we played. Children of Munch Children of Goya [Part of the 'Explain Yourself to Goya' sequence of poems.] For more Information on the *Goya's Child - Original (1991-1993)* (Members: Irvine, Thorpe, Mannix, O'Neill and White) go to: Goya's Child - Original (1991-93) Online Information Site Ian Irvine (Solo) and Goya's Child (1) - Original (1991-93) on Twitter Also, since Robin Hislop (see review below) has pointed to a thematic link between this poem and Dylan's famous and much covered song 'Chimes of Freedom', I've added a link to the lyrcis for that song, plus a youtube cover version by Bruce Sprinstein. Dr Ian Irvine (Hobson) is the author of two novels, a book of poetry and an acclaimed nonfiction book on chronic forms of alienation and ennui. His works have featured in various Australian national writing anthologies as well as in over 100 journals and magazines. He has co-edited over 20 writing anthologies and has taught as a creative arts educator and sometimes course coordinator since 1994. He is the founder and chief songwriter of the alt. rock band Interstitium, and was also the lead singer and co-songwriter of Australian alt rock band "Goya's Child (Original)" before his departure in early 1994.
The Music of Goya's Child (1) Online information Site

Reviewed by Axilea MU

Reviewed on June 4, 2019

Extraordinary, atmospheric journey in time. I love the iconographic references, the poetic imagery that connects me to some of my favorite artists. Powerful.

Reviewed by Robin Ouzman Hislop

Reviewed on October 7, 2018

Reading it brings to mind in almost simultanneity Dylan's Chimes of Freedom - great moody writing Ian, as always

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on September 25, 2018

It is so good to see you posting again. And this poem dedicated to Goya's Child is outstanding in its form and function, letting us in on what it was like for this band that burned out too soon, like so many artistic people whose lives are cut short.

Ron