Sunset, Bosphorus Ferry
David Dumouriez
Our impassive viewer stares ahead.
This man – without an equal in the angle
of his coat and square – allows
the cherry lines that cut the mosques
to fill his eyes. Above, a veinous horror
hand looks briefly poised to intervene
(exact a toll or not, is that the debate?).
This scene, beloved of lists, known
instantly worldwide, is not less
than compelling; a rebirth every time.
So what’s his failure to engage?
The lack of danger? The atmosphere of
nothing more than this? A feeling that
it’s not his world, not now, nor ever will be?
*
David Dumouriez’s childhood dream of retiring as soon as he left school was thwarted by a fundamental lack of money or marketable talent. Since then he’s wandered here and there and proved himself to be an eager participant in several trades and a master of none of them.