O Leonardo

History’s most brilliant and imaginative human being created not only transcendent art, but machines of war and extermination. This dark meditation on Leonardo da Vinci uses 20th century images of flight, weapons, war and invention to address our divine primate impulse for grand creation and destruction.

O Leonardo!
What a Tornado!
What Verve, Vision and Bravado!
You were the Greatest Primate to ever Grace this Gloried Earth!
You Leonardo. O Leonardo.
The Last Supper, the Mona Lisa, the Virgin of the Rocks
Your Luminous Paintings Beckon and Unlock
Our Mortal Eyes and our Higher Senses
Your Genius knew no Earthly Bounds or Fences.
Did it, Leonardo? O Leonardo.
You Surveyed the Sacred Form of Man,
Sketched Skeleton, Tissues and Vital Organs,
Charted the Circulation of our Wandering Blood,
Found Celestial Footprints in our Genetic Mud.
Scientist, Architect, Chief Engineer,
Master Observer with Infinite Care,
You Studied the World’s Divine Creations,
The Stratified Stones and Cosmic Stations,
The Flying Birds, and Rolling Tides,
The Quivering Moon and the Grasshopper’s Eyes.

And then you Conceived your own Designs
Of Bridges and Robots and Flying Machines
Hydraulic Pumps and Submarines,
And Endless Visions most Sublime.
They say you were a Beauty, a Vegetarian Cutie,
Handsome and Tall and Gentle to all,
A Sweet-throated Singer who played a Horse-Headed Lyre,
You Bought Caged Birds and Released them into the Air.
And most Marvelous, you invented Machines
That Served the Desire of Grand Human Beings
To Murder one another with Efficient Zeal
Tanks, Machine Guns, Cannons on Wheels,
Your Cluster Bombs were particularly Clever,
They could Terrorize the Enemy with just one Lever.
O Leonardo! What a Tornado!
What Verve, Vision and Bravado!
You were the Greatest Primate…..
to ever Grace this Gloried Earth.
Earth, Leonardo.
Earth, Leonardo.