A PALMPILOT FULL OF THINGS TO DO

Short Form #4

PAUL KLEE: OTHER POSSIBLE WORLDS (JEWISH MUSEUM, NEW YORK)

1. I hang nobly on the wall
   and look no one in the face
   I’ve been sent from heaven
   I’m of the angelic race.
   

   Man is good within my realm
   I take little interest in his case
   I am protected by the Almighty
   and have no need of any face.

   
   The world from which I come
   is measured, deep and clear
   what keeps me of a piece
   is a wonder, so it here appears.

   
   In my heart stands the town
   where God has sent me to dwell.
   The angel who bears this seal
   Never falls under its spell.

   
   My wing is ready to beat
   but I would gladly return home
   were I to stay to the end of days
   I’d still be this forlorn.

   
   My gaze is never vacant
   my eye pitchdark and full
   I know what I must announce
   and many other things as well.

   
   I am an unsymbolic thing
   what I am I mean
   you turn the magic ring in vain
   there is no sense to me.
   – Gershom Scholem, “Greetings from Angelus,” trans. Richard Sieburth, 1921
   
   

2. A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from somethin…