The Hammer

                   A section of a bamboo pole
                            hangs, suspended
                                     in front of a wall.

                        On top of it
                            rests a grey stone -
                                  a pebble.
 

                 What a strange & useless hammer it is!
 

                       How beautifully
                           it stands out
                        in front of the white wall!
 

                           How beautifully
                                     it forms
                                   a shadow!
 

                        No desire is evoked
                      to grip and hold
                           this object,

                        dragging it out of its
                            poetic realm.
 

                   Instead we marvel why it
                            enchants us...

                   Why we continue
                                            to look at it.

                         Taken in
                                   by its clarity
                             its simple beauty
 
 

                                                    Jean-Georges Massart 
                                                    Bamboe, kei (1990) 
                                                    [Privé  collectie] 
 
 
 
 

                         Der Hammer
 

                     Ein Abschnitt eines Bambusrohrs
                             haengt, in der Luft
                                       vor einer Wand

                 Darauf ruht
                         ein grauer Stein -
                                     ein Kiesel.

         Was fuer ein seltsamer & nutzloser Hammer es ist !

                    Wie schoen
                   er sich abhebt
                     vor der weissen Wand !
 

                Wie schoen
             er einen
                 Schatten wirft !
 

                  Kein Wunsch wird geweckt
              zu ergreifen, zu halten : 
                 dieses Objekt -

               es zu zerren aus seinem
                       poetischen Reich

                 Wundern uns, stattdessen
                           warum's uns verzaubert

                       Warum wir den Blick
                                  nicht loesen koennen...

                                Gefangen genommen
                                         von seiner Klarheit
                                        Seiner einfachen Schoenheit
 
 
 

                [image of the work "echoed" in the poem
                     not yet available for this issue of Art in Society]