Glass of Water and Coffee Pot (Robin Robertson)

This poem by Robin Robertson has a line of attribution after the title: after Chardin. I had no idea what or who that was, so I Googled it. Chardin is a famous still-life painter from the 1700s. Knowing that, I can see the poem as ekphrasis - that is, it is a poem about a work of art. However, when I first read the poem, not knowing anything about Chardin, I thought the poem was simply talking about Spring as it described objects on a kitchen table. Since I am not familiar with Chardin or any of his paintings, I still rather like my interpretation.

I love all the nouns in this poem: wood, tongue-and-groove, white-washed walls, maple tree, weathered stone and brick, garlic heads, water glass, blackened coffee pot. So rooted in a time and place, so domestic, so homey. 

And I love that these nouns yield in the last three lines "harmony", "happiness", things that are "true". It makes me want to be in that kitchen on that Spring day. 

Favorite line: "The papery whiteness of the garlic heads is the same light / held in the water glass"