Poetry: “Questions for Leonardo”

Malinda C. Miller

Questions for Leonardo

Leonardo, how crowded it must be
where science, thought, and art cross paths. What signs
triggered your brain? What sounds? And what defines
the shape, the tone, the continuity
of light, of war, man’s lust, geometry,
and of your rhythm, motion, sight? Your lines
show how, in man and horse, muscle aligns,
show flight, His meal, her smile—show how we see.
Can you still see? Where does your vision end?
Men don’t agree on where life is confined
or at what point a spirit will diminish.
Tell me, what final form did you intend?
What elements competed for your mind?
And now, if you stood here, what would you finish?

  • Share
Most Commented

September 18, 2024

1.

Understanding Anti-Semitism from a Neglected Film and Novel

A little known 1940 film starring Margaret Sullavan, Jimmy Stewart, and Frank Morgan is perhaps Hollywood’s most successful attempt to dramatize the nature of antisemitism and the Nazi......

Most Read

May 30, 2018

1.

The Case for Colonialism

From the summer issue of Academic Questions, we reprint the controversial article, "The Case for Colonialism." ...

March 29, 2019

2.

Homogenous: The Political Affiliations of Elite Liberal Arts College Faculty

A study on the partisanship of liberal arts professors at America's top universities. ...

October 18, 2023

3.

Did American Police Originate from Slave Patrols?

The claim that American policing “traces back” to, “started out” as, or “evolved directly from,” southern slave patrols, is false....