The late poet Philip Larkin wrote the poem titled as above. Some say it is a meditation on original sin. I rather relate it to the challenges we set ourselves as artists and sometimes meet but often do not. In six brief lines he said much to ponder.

Watching the shied core
Striking the basket, skidding across the floor,
Shows less and less of luck, and more and more

Of failure spreading back up the arm
Earlier and earlier, the unraised hand calm,
The apple unbitten in the palm.


Contessa, a study of my model Annie Jefferson, for the painting “Ring Them Bells”