Poetry

Green Dream / Eileen Chong

A painting of a room leading to a garden, with blankets and clothes strewn around

‘Everything hoped for and more' oil on canvas (2011) by Hop Dac

furred leaves of the jungle 
espaliered by stroke and daub—

entryway to red velvet stage
stripped of bedclothes, curtained

by mane—startled felines gawp,
disarmed by sectioned lotuses

red breast, golden plumage,
the unforgetful eye, raised trunk

slithering escapee stained
with heavy oranges

*

russet veins of foliage
curled like absent cats

shadows of another’s green
invading this new dream—

fingerworked webs, lone
shirt, blue trousers emptied

of body—left-behind leather
loops. mirrored night, double

vision, echo of sheets—across
the pane, reverse angels trumpet

The poem is a response, in two parts, to the paintings Everything hoped for and more (2011) by Hop Dac and The Dream (1910) by Henri Rousseau.

Henri Rousseau, ‘The Dream’ (1910).

Eileen Chong is a poet and the author of nine books. Her most recent collection is A Thousand Crimson Blooms (UQP, 2021). She lives and works on unceded Gadigal land. www.eileenchong.com.au