Widows’ weeds is what we wear
Stiflingly hot in midday air
Houses usurped by eldest sons
Post-husbands, post-menopause, we
Convene daily, really to see
That we still live, it’s hardly fun
But beneath each blackened shell
Bright colours of our glory days
Belie this ghastly latter phase
We dream of Heaven, live in Hell
Gossip our only consolation
The fauve follies of the young
Who’s deserving, who should be hung
Judgment brings but scant elation…
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Melissa Lemay in Poetics, invites us to write an ekphrastic poem inspired by a selection of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe…
Melissa also gave us a selection of art terms to incorporate into our poem and I chose just one fauve, the French word for “wild animal” that gave it’s name to the Fauvists who painted in very bright colours…
What an insightful ekphrastic poem, taking me into a wordgarden that felt familiar and appropriate to the image. I guess it’s close to what Georgia saw, too.
ps I think your single choice of “fauve” is just right, contrasting with the image and bringing aliveness and vital defiance to the shrouded figures.
Thanks, Kathy, I have come to like the sonnet form and the way it pushes you to reach for the right words…
I like the way you wove the colors in under the black
Thanks Eric, those colours stood out to me and demanded inclusion…
The first line pulled me in right away. You gave these women a voice, capturing their constrained, oppressive lives along with the sliver of hope they cling on to. A powerful piece of representation.
Thanks Michelle! I think it is a pity that some societies require women to go beneath the black…
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I can really see those older women…. and with their black shawls they are so demonstratably invisible….
And why should that be necessary Björn? Go into demonstrable mourning – but forever?
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Powerful poem!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Thanks Yvette! Powerful painting…
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“But beneath each blackened shell
Bright colours of our glory days”
There is always something deeper to tap into.
Thanks Melissa, great prompt. I appreciated your selection of words and I could write a poem employing more of them but in this instance the painting’s subjects spoke louder…
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Powerful poem, filled with color, Andrew!
Thanks Sara, perhaps it’s because I paint too (very occasionally) but whether ekphrastic or not, I do use a lot of colour words in my poems…
I enjoyed the interplay of fauve, colour as wild, creative, contrasting with the black of widows and life passing.
Thanks Paul, getting back into poetry mode after a month doing the A to Z…
This one really spoke to me, Andrew. The only difference is here widows wear white. Heartrending what they are made to go through.
Older women are sadly undervalued everywhere by and large – glad you liked it Punam…