P4 - Barbara Morgan, Samadhi

Barbara Morgan
American, 1900-1992

Samadhi
1940
Gelatin silver print
Museum Permanent Collection
1984.1667

---

Samadhi
by Anne Shifrer

calligraphic cage of light
with its glass hummingbird
stalled midair
or
ecstatic sufi’s twirling skirt
an aerial afterimage
or
Martha Graham dancer
caught by the camera
whorl of her skirt torqued
around her like a morning glory
or
a bioluminescence:
these filaments
of light
like flower stems
drinking—

A better lightbulb?

Or none of the above

samadhi: meaning
one-pointedness
serenity
the mind quenched by stillness

sweet liqueur of the moment
distilled