Saturday, April 4, 2015

Portrait

    Ambroise Vollard by Pablo Picasso

Here is the child,
running and singing
and drawing before knowing
that drawing is hard
cutting class,
fighting and loving
and thinking
of the magic between pages
and stars.

Here is the parent, the sibling the spouse
giving and tender,
arguing, withholding
open, reticent, stern
eating potatoes, sorting the mail
thinking of winter 
and making love.

Here is the worker, here the boss
productive, proactive, lazy
smoking a cigarette
worrying about shoes
and overtime 
considering the nature 
of beauty and loss.

Here is the artist
crying and spitting and drinking gin
darning a sock,
selfish, doubt filled, egomaniacal 
trying to pay the rent
and save the world
with a pen
thinking of the magic
between words
and stars.


Over in the Imaginary Garden we were asked to consider exerpts from Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons, which has been called verbal Cubism, and write a poem about an object, food, or a room in the style of Stein. Alternately we could write a poem without any gendered pronouns, as she did.  I tried doing my own "Cubist-ish" poem, considering Wikipedia's definition, "In the Cubist Style subjects are rendered from multiple perspectives using faceted forms and simplified geometric shapes."  And this is also my PAD Day #4. 




34 comments:

  1. selfish, doubt filled, egomaniacal
    trying to pay the rent
    and save the world
    with a pen ...... I love your poem.

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  2. Oh good lord your poem pushes MY buttons. So great! Such wry observation, the child draws before knowing drawing is hard. And working, working.

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  3. Hiya Mary. I really enjoyed how you took Stein's method of cataloging and told a story. And placed tiny call outs to the mundane..."crying and spitting and drinking gin...darning a sock," Absolutely stunning work. Thanks for posting to my prompt.

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    1. Thank you Izy. Sorry I didn't stick to the "brief" part, lol. And thanks for the prompt.

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  4. Yes, I can see how you have interpreted the Cubist genre in your approach to rendering a multi-faceted portrait. This definitely reveals there are more sides to personality than meet the eye.

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  5. of course the last verse is my favourite; i think as a whole the piece is awesome, yet if you crop it like a painting the stand alone appeal stays

    thanks for stopping by to read my

    much love...

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    1. As you are an artist, yes. Thank you Gillena. :o)

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  6. "thinking of the magic between words and stars". Beautiful. This is lovely to read, Mary. I like that you echoed Stein's style yet made the poem your own.

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  7. Genius, in how you show us ....!

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  8. Trying to pay the rent can be a pain haha

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  9. I climbed up and down the stairs of these stanzas like a kid running up and down stairs for fun, but also knowing the stairs have their own real purpose. Great job on number four, Mary.

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    1. Thanks Joy. Now if only I knew how to arrange them overlapping like the Cubists do with painting! Glad you had fun with it though. :o)

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  10. I couldn't get teeth into the prompt, but you certainly did, Mary. Outstanding ~

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  11. It's a wonderful poem! And how smart of you to look up the definition and write to that. Thank you for sharing it with us, as it is certainly an approach I could use more deliberately in future. (It happened in my 'Gertrude' piece, but unawares.)

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    1. Awww, thanks Rosemary. Haha, I just looked up Cubism because I wasn't smart enough to make anything of Tender Buttons. :o)

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  12. Very cool little portraits here--love that the artist is not just drinking gin but darning a sock! Good artist! Thanks. k. (Manicddaily)

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    1. Heheh, well I did have to get a nod to the stereotype of the artist as drinker, but not just that. :o) Thanks K.

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  13. Ah, Mary ~~ the artist is what I aspire to be (perhaps one day.) Your poem is relevant (and quite shapely) ~~ smiles.

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  14. Nice, Mary ~~ I like it that you got back to the innocents not knowing that there are things that can't be done. Both the little kids and the artists/writers.
    ..

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  15. What can I say that hasn't been so eloquently stated from others? Art holds so many faces, so many personalities. I love how you saw so many in one image.

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  16. very nice. each verse a perfect pairing with the painting.
    'thinking of magic between words and stars'....love that.

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