I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

26 April 2015

Georgia's Images




















Dear Georgia with the thin, strangely stern face,
you painted flowers delicate yet lush.
I love the fulsome petals, pink and cream,
whose contours look so yielding soft to touch
that stroking them would not seem out of place.

They are like magic symbols from a dream,
and yet they appear so vividly real!
With what concentration did you create
that illusion of something we could feel?
You knew both aliveness and how to seem.

You painted this the year that I was born.
You died only a year after my first
book of poems was launched. And I have
your book about your process. (See, I thirst
to know you.) You painted houses, a barn,

and bones and skulls that never found a grave,
being merely animals — but so grand
that you could not resist them, huge and white.
And you painted the red hills of that land,
the desert which you came to deeply love.

In youth your strange, remote face appeared calm.
In wrinkled age, it hinted at a smile,
at least in the photographs: just a trace
of wry amusement. But you had no guile —
uncompromising as a desert storm.


For day 26 of 'Poems in April' at 'imaginary garden with real toads' I've chosen a series of envelope stanzas as well as being inspired by this lovely painting: 

"Hibiscus with Plumeria" 1939 Oil on Canvas by Georgia O'Keeffe (from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.)  Photo by Magaret Bednar, used with permission.

11 comments:

  1. Such an incredible tribute to this lovely artwork...! Wonderfully done :D
    xoxo

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  2. This is fantastic, Rosemary... in form and in spirit. Just love it.

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  3. Love the tribute.. I will for sure go back to this form.. I found it most intriguing. I love how you describe Georgia, both in paintings and in her biography..

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  4. Your first stanza describes the painting in a way better than the actual painting! I really enjoyed this poem.

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  5. This is so skilfully written it gives me goose-bumps! Beautiful!

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  6. Your admiration for Georgia O'Keeffe sings through this poem. Those bones didn't find a grave, but became immortal through her art.

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  7. Lovely! I, too love her art-your words brought so much to her eye~

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  8. As you wrote, makers create an illusion of something we can feel, and then if they're blessed they sustain this effort, so the illusions enter the world and become a part of it. Thank you, dear Rosemary.

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  9. This is dynamic and expresses beautifully so many facets of the artist and the author...well done, Rosemary!

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  10. What a wonderful tribute. You have tweaked my interest in the artist. You have painted her and her work with such beautiful poetry.

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