Expressionist Sonnet
Published in
Nov 23, 2020
Sonnet © 2020 by Matthew de Lacey Davidson
A look at loss of mental power,
and influenced by Grand Guignol and allegory.
Herr Doktor looks like Arthur Schopenhauer,
inside a story that’s within another story.
Directly painted onto sets
are shadows, dark, and streaks of light,
ensuring that the audience forgets
that the characters are not contrite.
Objects which appear that they might be alive,
diagonals, and trees with spiky leaves.
Motivations, from absurdity, derive —
one does not know what one believes…
…and at the end, an anecdotal quirk:
this poem’s author never wrote this work.
This sonnet describes the expressionist German film, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari.
