'contoured playground', 1941

'This Tortured Earth', 1943

. . .a similar mix of contours under the swirl of unseen stresses. So what makes one a model for a children's playground and the other a mask of "Tortured Earth"? How do you get from rolling down the grassy slope of a giant ear-lobe to the the agonized and contorted vents of an enraged planet?
Or, more to the point, how does one travel through the same sculpted space from a "Monument to Man", with its frightful and unspoken accusation, to then emerge into the self-referencing ironic solitude that returns with the title of a new experience: "A Sculpture to be seen from Mars"?	chinwise...edgewise celestial playpark

the poet walks off musing about titles...

...and returns

Titles are Noguchi's invitation to play; to see just where sculptured spaces might lead if one is inclined to the adventure of them...
'mars beacon'	A beacon" Noguchi says, "not just a feature? It's a beacon now, with a voice?" "Sure, I say. Calls 'em right down. 'Hey', it says, 'Come on over to Noguchi's place. We're having the Spring Skateboard Olympics...bring your best skeeters!' "Would they come?" Noguchi asks. "Of course," I tell him, "for the 9002 Spring Olympics." 'Of Course,' he says, 'I knew that.' "Unless...," I say. "Unless?"                                        . . .
'self-portrait from a long way off'	Proposal to Stewart Brand's Long Now Foundation 'Progress Report from Earth'

It is interesting to me that all three of Noguchi's basic elements of sculptural space are so reductively balanced. Had he modeled it from the Indian Samkhya, we could say it is a wonderful illustration of how material being, Prakrti, converges on non-existance . .

better yet, the poet takes a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket come along and I'll see if I can explain on the way (Uh oh, do I get the feeling were in for a lecture. . .?? .

. . .

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