Baroque Bees

A pitch we were given in class was to describe a Baroque church. This is based off of several churches designed by Bernini.
One point of Baroque art is the concept of simultaneous action, that everything around you is tumultuous and happening at once. It's overwhelming, chaotic, and sometimes (if you're not a huge fan of gilded fat baby angels) a little kitschy. It's by no means my favorite, but I think I've gained a new respect for baroque sensibility, and tried to capture it myself.


Baroque Bees

Gathering on the organ pipes
Hums a swarm of golden bees
Plaster angels climb the rafters
Frame fearful asymmetry

Men in theatre boxes watch
The marble, billowing in pools
Crushed velvet curtains frame the scene,
part like hushed lips, to reveal

Brooding Judas, Contre Postre,
Pondering his silvered palm
Just behind him, doubting Thomas
whose bronze lips are dripping psalms

humming, humming, low and soft,
the brimming bees are gathering
holy water still as honey,
sings so softly, voice unseen

organ hits a dissonance,
gathered bees take golden wing
plaster ceiling crackling, reveals
dripping honeycomb underneath

humming, humming, growing softer
organ pipes still their tone
absent bees gentle murmur
echoes in these pillar-bones.