They resemble nothing else ....
The yellow glistens....
Citrons, oranges and greens
Flowering over the skin....
The pears are not seen
As the observer wills.
---from "Study of Two Pears," by Wallace Stevens
So much confidence in a pear. It is itself, except in Cezanne's hands, when it becomes his pear. Every apple, every pear, needs to shake itself free of Cezanne. Stevens's pears will not "resemble"; they will control the flow of their colors until the colors appear to blossom. These pears will never be eaten, because they are in a poem.
We think we see the outline of the pear -- but then, only then, afterwards, do we recognize the full pear. But, as Stevens also said, "The imagination does not add to reality." I think he means that the imagination can show us ... the seeing of reality ... we must seize this moment and this picture as we see it forming in our minds; paintings and poems come from this seizing of just this glistening of a pear.
(previous post, on April 28, showed a bit of pear ... and now here is my softer "pear," so far):
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